


Problems

by LivesToLead



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Clans, F/M, Family, Fluff, Life before the mighty nein, No Beta, Nott learning to interact with people, Original Characters - Freeform, Past, She's very cautious, Slow Build, figuring out family, give it a chance, injuries, learning different languages, runt - Freeform, unedited
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-05-02 01:23:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14533638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivesToLead/pseuds/LivesToLead
Summary: Nott's life before Caleb and the mighty nein.Her background and how she came to be Nott the Brave.~*~“Did they not feed you?” Nott stops dead in her tracks at the sound of her native tongue, her eyes immediately dart over to the doorway.“Can you not speak goblin?” He asks her as he takes slow steps into the room.She spits out the rope a bit insulted. “Of course I can.” Nott snaps as she narrows her eyes at him. “The real question is why can you?” Her paranoia and suspicion get the best of her.He simply gives a small laugh and smiles. “I can speak many languages.” He stands at the foot of the bed and leans against the wood frame. “It is very important in my line of work that I can.”“And what exactly is your line of work?” Nott asks never taking her eyes off the man, she sits up straight, using the ropes to help, her side still aching a bit.“You are very nosy for a tied up woman.” His smile grows as he looks at her over with an amused look.





	1. Restraint

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me, nothing spoiler-y.  
> I was just wondering about Nott's background and this came out

She was bleeding out, if she could just get up and away from the rest of the clan she could get somewhere safe and patch herself up or something, anything, she just didn’t want it to end now. Nott is cover her face with her arms trying to look past the other Goblins crowding around her, kicking and slashing at her fetal position. There aren’t any openings as the attacks against her become harder, she sees her opening though when one of the goblin men move his leg out of the way to step on her to keep her from moving around. She moves quickly and uses all her might to roll out of the way and into open air, Nott doesn’t waste any time in getting up and running as fast as she can. 

The only thing Nott can hear is her racing heart as she runs holding her bleeding side. She was a runt compared to the rest, but that just meant she was stealthier, faster, able to get away. She knew speaking out was a horrible idea, especially against the elder, they spoke of war against other clans, that were much stronger than there’s. Nott did not think it was wise, so she decided to say her peace, to help her clan. 

“I do not think that would be wise.” Nott mumbles and the elder glares at her as the crowd bares their teeth at her. 

“Traitor!” Someone calls out.

“Runt!” Another snarls.

The gathering continues, angry stares lingered on Nott as it ends and goblins disperse, all except a group of three males. She grew up with them, not that it mattered, not that sentiment meant anything to anyone. They jumped on her immediately beating her to the ground. 

“You should’ve died!”

“Weakingly filth!”

Nott doesn’t stop running, not after the sound of yelling and growling stops, not after she makes it out of the clans land, not after her breathing grows ragged. She only stops when her legs give out and she collapses against a tree, she looks down at her side and rips some cloth from her dress and begins to tightly wrap at her side, blotches begin to appear in her eyesight as she slowly goes unconscious against the tree. 

This isn’t the first time she’s been beaten and bruised, but usually once she starts bleeding and screaming they leave her in the street, spitting on her before they leave. Today though, she bled and she screamed and they kept going, she guessed they finally wanted her dead. 

Nott comes to consciousness, blinking slowly her vision at first blurry then slowly becoming more clear as she looks up at a ceiling confused. Then she realizes she’s alive, and not in a hut. She sits up immediately, flailing when she feels hands trying to lay her back down, ignoring the pain in her side she snarls and tries to claw at whatever is restraining her. Her hands are restrained and tied to the bed, she frantically looks about at the faces surrounding her, halflings, they all speak in their native tongue and another she doesn’t exactly recognize. 

“ _ Let me go! I’ll kill you, I swear! _ ” She yells giving them what she hopes is a threatening look, not that she would be able to follow through on it, she was weaponless and was  _ restrained to a bed _ . 

They look at Nott with concern but continue to talk quickly, probably deciding on what to do with the goblin girl, she keeps narrowed eyes and bared teeth as she looks at them huffing for breath, tugging against the ropes on her wrist. A smaller halfling girl peeks in through the doorway at her and Nott snaps her teeth in her direction angrily, the girl ducks away quickly. Nott moves her head to get the hair out of her face as she looks between the two halflings that stand in front of her, now quiet as they look at her with worried looks. They both look middle aged, not too old, the woman takes a hesitant step towards her and glances at the nightstand that holds a pitcher and a glass, Nott smacks her lips a bit feeling how parched she was. 

The woman, with red curly hair pulled back in a bun, pours the water in the cup before taking a deep breath and goes to stand right next to the bed where Nott was laying. Cautiously she holds the glass to Nott’s lips, the man in the room, with brown short hair, makes a noise of protest but is cut off when the woman looks back at him with a look. Nott notices the silent exchange, not entirely sure what it means, she’s stopped struggling as she watches as the woman turns back to her, Nott is taken back when she looks her in the eye and smiles. The goblin girl blinks surprised as the cup is once again pressed to her lips, she drinks keeping eye contact with the smiling woman. 

Nott calms down after that, still a bit frightened and panicked, but it seemed to have lessened after receiving the smile. 

No one, for as long as Nott’s been alive, has ever smiled at her like that, with warmth and meaning, so unthreatening. It had such a calming effect on her as she felt herself lean back and rest against the headboard of the bed, breathing at a more normal pace. 

They try talking to her. First they try to ask questions in at least two different languages, but she was only ever taught Ghukliak, the language of gobins, no one thought she was important enough to teach any other languages, they barely bothered with this one. Then they try speaking slowly, almost as if that would help her understand better, Nott simply shook her head and looked at them with a concerning look. After that failed, the male halfling decided that maybe she was deaf? And began to yell his words. 

“ _ That’s not helping! _ ” She yelled back slowly in goblin, they both backed up a bit at the rough words. “ _ Not so helpful huh? _ ” She mumbles under her breath as she blows a strand of hair out of her hair. 

They all sit in silence, trying to figure out how to interact and communicate, the two talk in a whisper, as if it mattered. The same young girl peeks in through the doorway, this time she walks in holding a plate that holds some bread and cheese. She looks over at Nott real quick before heading over to the two older halflings, she says something that makes them look at each other with worried glances, but the woman ends up nodding before adding something on real quick. The girl smiles and nods, Nott watches curiously as the girl walks over to the side of the bed and set the tray on top next to where Nott was sitting up, then climbs up onto the bed. 

When she settles on the bed so she’s facing the goblin, her smile turns a bit shy when they make eye contact. Nott’s not sure how smiles work, but she spreads her lips across her face a bit awkwardly in an attempt, making sure to show her teeth. The girl giggles at the sight of Nott’s awkward smile and covers her mouth a bit, Nott drops the “smile”. She stops her giggling and smiles brightly again. 

“Rosey.” She says simply as she points to herself. “Rosey.” She taps at her chest with a single finger in explanation. 

Nott nods a bit eagerly, she understands what that means. 

“Rosey.” Nott looks at her pointedly and Rosey nods happily. 

“Rosey.” She points at herself then points at Nott in question.

“Nott.” The goblin speaks and looks past Rosey to look at the older halflings. “Nott.” She says again, they both nod in understanding. 

“Nott.” Rosey smiles contentedly and then proceeds to reach forward and rip off a piece of bread and holds it towards her.

Nott looks down at the piece of bread in front of her face and then back towards Rosey, who smiles at her expectantly, Nott moves to eat the bread from the girls hand and earns a giggle when her teeth almost catch on the young girls fingers. 

Rosey continues to feed her the bread and cheese until the plate is empty, Nott not knowing how hungry she was until she felt the fullness in her belly. When their done Rosey smiles at her and gets off the bed with the plate and turns to leave out the door. 

Before she walks out the door she turns and bows her head real quick. “Nott.” And then she’s gone. 

Nott notices that the older halflings are no longer in the room and she is now alone in the small bedroom. She looks over at the pitcher of water and rubs her tongue along the roof of her mouth, feels like sandpaper and decides she needs water,  _ now _ . Looking around for something to cut her ropes she finds nothing with in reach, she bites her lip in thought and winces when she presses too hard and draws a bit of blood. Licking her blood wound, she suddenly perks up before bringing her wrist in close and then moving her head forward to start gnawing at the rope. 

It takes a bit, but soon she feels the rope begin to give way and begins to chew faster the promise of water close. 

“ _ Did they not feed you? _ ” Nott stops dead in her tracks at the sound of her native tongue, her eyes immediately dart over to the doorway.

There stands a halfling man with the same curly red hair the woman had and the most beautiful set of green eyes that Nott had ever seen. She doesn’t release the rope from the clenches of her teeth as she continues to stare at him, her gaze wanders down to see the wooden crossbow on his back and dagger attached to his hip. Her heart rate spikes at the sight. They’ve come to finish her off. She feels a snarl begin to build in her. 

“ _ Can you not speak goblin? _ ” He asks her as he takes slow steps into the room. 

She spits out the rope a bit insulted. “ _ Of course I can. _ ” Nott snaps as she narrows her eyes at him. “ _ The real question is why can you? _ ” Her paranoia and suspicion get the best of her. 

He simply gives a small laugh and smiles. “ _ I can speak many languages. _ ” He stands at the foot of the bed and leans against the wood frame. “ _ It is very important in my line of work that I can. _ ”

“ _ And what exactly is your line of work? _ ” Nott asks never taking her eyes off the man, she sits up straight, using the ropes to help, her side still aching a bit. 

“ _ You are very nosy for a tied up woman. _ ” His smile grows as he looks at her over with an amused look.

Nott is suddenly aware of her clothing, no longer wearing the ragged dress she had on before, she was now wearing loose pants that were tightened around her hips and a tunic that was a bit too big for her frame, she could feel the bandages underneath. At least she still had her modesty. 

“ _ Would you like me to untie those for you? _ ” He asks walking over so he’s standing next her on the side of the bed. 

“ _ Aren’t you afraid I’ll attack you? _ ” She squints up at him and he laughs and shakes his head. 

“ _ You couldn’t hurt a fly. _ ”

Nott is surprised as he unties her wrist from the left side, her hand falls to the mattress limp. She watches as he leans over her to reach her right side, Nott blinks slowly as she looks at his face and then she looks down at his hip and sees the dagger. As soon as her other wrist is free she grabs the dagger and flips them so he’s pinned to the bed, Nott holds the dagger to his throat while her forearm lays across his chest firmly keeping him in place. He swears in halfing. 

“ _ Your a quick one. _ ” Nott feels her lip quirk up a bit at how caught off guard he seems. 

“ _ Who are you? _ ” She asks intimidatingly, but he seems unaffected. 

“ _ Oh! Where are my manners. I’m Garrett. _ ” He smiles and goes to put his hand up for a hand shake, but Nott presses the dagger closer to his neck and he puts his hands up in submission, his smile never wavering. “ _ And you are? _ ” 

“ _ Nott. _ ” She backs off just a tad, still being cautious though. “ _ Are you going to kill me? _ ” 

“ _ Gods no. _ ” Garrett laughs. “ _ That’d be a waste of a spell and supplies. _ ” He scoffs and she looks down at him confused.

He takes her moment of confusion to knock the dagger away from his neck and grab her wrists, Garrett flips them over and is now pinning her wrists to the bed next to her head. Nott looks up at him with wide eyes, he simply looks down at her with a wide pleased smile. 

“ _ If we wanted you dead, I would’ve left you in the woods to bleed to death. _ ” Garrett whispers to her before getting off of her, she stays laying against the bed still stunned. “ _ Come on, I’ll introduce you to your saviors properly. _ ”

Nott sits up on her elbows to look over at him questioningly, he jerks his head over towards the door with a smile. She glares at him, keeping eye contact with him as she stands from the bed and grabs the pitcher of water and ignores the cup. Nott lifts it over her head and pours it on her face and down her throat before setting the pitcher back down, then turns back to face Garrett. He laughs and she follows him out of the room. 

Garrett leads her out of the room and into the small hallway, he makes sure that she stays by his side and not behind him just in case. Nott thinks this is smart of him. There is another door in the hallway that is shut, her eyes linger on it as they make it to the end of the hallway. They turn the corner and there is an open space with two chairs and a couch set up in front of a fireplace, past that is a table set up with chairs around it towards the wall. Nott looks around the area a bit confused, she had never seen a place like this before, is this what homes looked like?

They continue walking past this strange area to  _ another _ room, this one has another table in it, this one a bit smaller that had pots and pans dangling above it. There was food everywhere in this room and Nott’s mouth watered a little, but as her gaze was torn away from the wall of food and dangling pots she was met with the other halflings gazes. They all stand in quiet for a moment before the little girl brightens up and points at her. 

“Nott!” She squeals delightedly. 

“Rosey.” Nott points back and Rosey giggles happily. 

“ _ So your name  _ is _ Nott? I thought you were pulling my leg. _ ” Garrett asks her raising an eyebrow with a smile, she doesn’t respond giving him a side eye before looking back at the little girl. 

It isn’t silent for much longer as the older man starts to speak to Garrett in a different language and she had forgotten for a moment that she was the odd one out when they all started to speak. She shouldn’t be here, in this place that made no sense to her, in a place where no one understood her, but it’s not like she could go back to her clan, not that she wanted to. They would kill her as soon as she set foot back in their area, they almost did kill her, she’d have to fend for herself. First though, Nott would have to figure out a way to get away from these,  _ people. _ People that were likely to kill her at any moment.

“ _ This is my mother Eoelle. _ ” Garrett gestures to the halfling woman. “ _ And this is my father Arric. _ ” He then gestures to the other man. “ _ They are the ones who bandaged you up. _ ” Nott looks between them and not sure what else to do nods at them. 

“She can’t stay here.” Arric speaks in common pointing at Nott. “It’s not safe, people will notice and I worry for Rosey.” He sticks a hand in front of the little girl and pulls her behind him, shielding her from view of Nott’s curious gaze. “I worry for all of us.” He looks at Garrett.  

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Eoelle looks at her husband with a hard stare. “I’m sure there’s something we can do to help her and keep us safe at the same time.”

“Like tying her to the bed each night?” Garrett speaks up looking at his parents pointedly. “She was chewing through the rope when I got in there.” The couple look a bit startled. “I think she was just thirsty.” He reassures them before glancing down at Nott real quick. “She doesn’t seem like much of a threat, at least nothing that I can’t keep under control.”

“Did you see how she was with Rosey?” Eoelle states turning to look at Arric. “I don’t think she’s like other goblins.” She explains and looks over Nott sympathetically. 

“And what of her clan?” Arric asks immediately. “Say she leaves just to go tell her clan about us and our village. We’d be doomed.”

“Then you can blame me until the end of time.” She rolls her eyes at him, brushing his worry off as dramatics. “Garrett can watch her if your so worried.” Eoelle points at their son. 

“Hold on, how did I get dragged into this?” Garrett asks looking between the two. “I’m barely here, I’m not sure what you expect me to do.”

“That sounds fair.” Arric says to his wife before turning to Garrett. “You brought her here, she’s  _ your _ responsibility. You’ll take some time off and watch her.”

“I can’t exactly take time off.” Garrett puts a hand on his hip a bit annoyed.

“And why not?” Arric asks. “It’s not like you have an actual job.”

Eoelle hisses her husband’s name. “Arric.”

“I do.” Garrett grits out. “I just can’t tell you.”

“Well until you can you watch this goblin.” Arric says with a final word and leaves the room, Rosey follows her hand in his, she waves to Nott. 

Nott watches as Arric pulls Rosey out of the room. She had been watching this entire scenario completely confused. They all seemed annoyed and she knew from experience that annoyed people and weak goblins never mixed. Her anxiety and need to flee grew with each passing second that Garrett went without speaking. 

Nott waits until Eoelle leaves to speak. “ _ I can’t stay here. _ ” She hisses. “ _ I need to leave, I’ll die here. _ ” Garrett looks down at her.

“ _ Again. _ ” He turns to face her fully. “ _ No one here is going to kill you. You are not going to die here. _ ” Garrett goes to put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her but Nott flinches away from him immediately and growls. He moves to give her space. 

“ _ You don’t understand. _ ” Her voice is rough and angry. “ _ It may not be you people, but someone will find out that I am here and they will kill me. _ ” She looks around the room keeping a defensive stance. “ _ I need to be out there. I need to find a new clan. _ ” Nott speaks mostly to herself as she looks towards a window. 

“ _ What happened to your old clan? _ ” Garrett questioned and Nott’s head snaps to look at him. 

“ _ What? _ ” She barks as she looks at him. 

“ _ I said what happened to your old- _ ” 

Nott is quick to cut him off, she grabs a knife off the table and holds it to his throat again, the angle a bit weird due to her being a few inches smaller than him, but nonetheless threatening. Garrett is pinned between the table and Nott. 

“You and your knives.” Garrett mutters as he looks down at her. 

“ _ Do not ask of my old clan ever again. I am not afraid to gut you open like a rat. _ ” Nott threatens between gritted teeth.

“ _ Understood. _ ” Garrett swallows and feels the edge of the kitchen knife against his adam's apple as he does so. 

“ _ Good. _ ” Nott throws the knife down onto the table behind him. “ _ I’ll stay until I’m healed fully, then I am going to leave and you will tell no one I was here. _ ” She glares at him for a moment more before walking away. 


	2. Couch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nott wonders about couches and cuts her hair

Sleep doesn’t come easily that night, firstly because she couldn’t sleep on her sides and she didn’t want to be completely defenseless if she were to sleep on her stomach, so she laid on her back which she hated. That and she was very much on edge, with every noise her eyes snapped open to look at the door to the room she was sleeping in, every time she felt her eyes closing she would blink herself awake. Nott wanted to sleep, she was exhausted and just wanted to be out of that house, but instead she sits up in the bed holding her knees to her chest tightly for some comfort. The fear of falling asleep and waking up to the halfling family attacking her just because she let her guard down was too great. Nott does sleep at some point, obviously not with her own consent, when she wakes up she’s a bit frantic and thrashes out of the sheets and looks around the room quickly. It was the same, she was the only one in the room and there were no halflings to be seen. Nott takes a breath before getting out of the bed slowly, she holds onto her side and makes her way to the door, she hears the sound of talking and moving around on the other side, slowly she opens the door and makes her way down the small hall. 

Nott can smell meat and mouth instantly begins to water, she comes to the entrance of the small room with all the furniture. The first thing she notices is Garrett sleeping on the couch with a blanket thrown over him, she tilts her head and looks at him a bit perplexed on why he would sleep on the couch if there were other beds in the home. The goblin walks closer to look at his sleeping form, he sleeps on his stomach with an arm hanging off the side, he’d be defenseless if she were to attack him right now. Nott looks at his face, he looks like a baby when he’s sleeping, weak and vulnerable, her lip curls a bit in distaste. She leans down to sniff at the top of his head, he smells of people and something fresh, she doesn’t like it. 

“Oi!” Arric calls to get her attention and she pops up immediately in a defensive position, he looks at her with a hard stare. 

Nott stares back at him with the same look. She hadn’t noticed him at the table before, he was holding a paper and quill in hand, he doesn’t say anything, but looks away to to jerk his head towards the other room before going back to whatever work he was doing. Suddenly Nott remembers her watering mouth and the smell of food, a bit upset she let Garrett’s sleeping form distract her from her original goal she huff down at him before going towards the smell. 

When she enters the room the smell intensifies and her eyes immediately land on a plate of bacon and ham. She moves to it instantly, scarfing down as much as she can as fast as she can nearly choking but she continues to eat undeterred, Coming up for air with a mouth filled with meat she looks up and around to see Rosey standing at the end of the table looking at Nott with wide eyes. 

Nott suddenly realizes that at some point she had climbed up on to the table and was hunched over the plate, she looks between the plate and Rosey before swallowing. She picks up a piece of ham and throws it in front of the small girl before going back to eating. Rosey takes the piece of meat watching Nott eat then rips into the piece of meat in the same fashion, she finishes her ham and then slowly climbs onto the table so she doesn’t spook the goblin. 

Rosey sits on her knees across from Nott and the plate, she looks between the two, Nott’s eyes look up at her quickly before going back to eating, snarling a bit when Rosey scoots a bit closer. The girl gives a little gasp at the sound but stays in place, when Nott looks up again, the little girl looks off to the side looking dejected. Nott sighs to herself and continues eating, as discreetly as she can she moves the plate little by little so it’s now between the both of them. She couldn’t have the people taking care of her be upset with her because she snarled at their child, that’s the only reason for her act of “kindness”. Rosey smiles and begins to eat in the same ravenous way Nott was, she even moved to a crouched position like the goblin, hunching over the food. 

It’s a short moment between the two before a surprised yelp interrupts them, Nott is standing up in an instant fully prepared to attack while Rosey looks as though she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Eoelle stands in the doorway to the kitchen with a hand on her chest obviously disturbed by the display of the two on the the table. 

“Rosey you know better than that!” Eoelle scolds as Rosey hurriedly jumps off the table and runs out of the room throwing Nott a quick look. “Nott.” She looks away from Rosey’s retreating form at the sound of her name to look at the halfling woman.

Nott wasn’t sure she had said to the child, but she had reason to believe that she was now on the receiving end of it. 

“I know you come from a different place than here, but we have rules and manners.” Nott could look at her with pure confusion as she was pulled off the table by her wrist and led into the next room. “We eat at the table in a  _ chair _ and not on top of the table hunched over. Understood?” She sets her down in a chair and wags a finger in front of the goblins face, Nott can only look up at her with scrunched features. “Good. Now I’ll be right back.”

Nott looks over Arric who’s raising a brow at her, then goes back to writing something down, she looks at the table in front of her more puzzled than before. Eoelle talked too fast, that mixed with a foreign language she had no knowledge of had her head spinning. She hears someone snicker and she turns her head to the side to see Garret looking over the couch one arm slung behind it, probably supporting his weight so he could look. He has a lazy smile on his face, his hair looks wild with sleep and his green eyes were droopy with leftover sleep, but still held a little light to them. Nott glared at him. 

“ _ What is she doing? _ ” She ignores how Arric jumps at the sudden use of Ghukliak and keeps her stare on Garrett. 

“ _ Seems like she’s going to teach you table manners. _ ” He answers amused and sits up and folds his arms on the back of the couch and rests his chin on top. “ _ This is going to be fun. _ ” 

“ _ I am not a child. _ ” Nott seethes as she rises to her feet, leaning against the table to growl at the man. “ _ I don’t need to be taught anything. _ ” He simply smiles at her.

Suddenly she’s being pushed back down into her seat and her chair being tucked in close to the table, a plate is set down in front of her with the meats she was eating before. Nott looks up to see Eoelle looking back at her expectantly, without looking away Nott slowly reaches for the food, once her hand is over the plate she looks away from the woman and goes to grab at a piece of bread. Nott pulls her hand back when Eoelle smacks it away, she rubs at the sting and bares her teeth up at the woman, she is unaffected by the goblins teeth instead she presses a fork into her hand. 

Nott looks down at the utensil confused then back up at Eoelle, the woman grabs her by the wrist and leads the fork to the food and stabs it. The goblin looks at the speared food on the fork and lifts it to her face, she looks back the woman, she nods with a smile encouragingly. Nott eats the food from the fork a bit cautiously, there’s a chuckle coming from Garrett and she throws him a glare from her place at the table. Eoelle hears him and hushes at him making him throw his hands up in mock defense as he gets up from the couch and leaves the room. The woman smiles back down at Nott and waits until she’s done with her plate of food before patting her head and leaving with the plate. 

Nott didn’t like the utensil, it slowed down her eating and it hurt her teeth if she bit down too hard, but everytime she would make a reach for the food with her other hand Eoelle would smack her hand. Not that Nott couldn’t scare the halfling woman into letting her eat how she wanted to, she feels she could easily over power the woman if needed. She was still injured though, that and the two men of the household were watching, any move against the woman would surely mean sudden death for Nott. 

Arric stares at her after Eoelle leaves, she stares back. He looks like he wants to say something, but they both know a that she wouldn’t understand, instead he leans forward and gets as close as he can. Their stares harden, a moment passes and then he backs away picks up his things and leaves the table. Nott follows his movements until he’s out of sight, she waits for a second before getting up from the table. She goes over to the couch and runs her fingers over the soft red material, Nott moves around to the other side and sits down. It’s cushiony and she feels herself sink into the piece of furniture, she moves around to avoid the feeling of being swallowed. Nott begins to bounce in place getting a feel of the couch, it was entirely too soft for her liking, but that’s probably due to her never having been on a couch before. 

“ _ What  _ are _ you doing? _ ” Her head snaps up to see Garrett standing at the end of the hallway looking at her with an amused look. 

“ _ This couch. _ ” Nott mumbles and continues to look down and bounce on the couch. 

He comes to sit down next to her, his body moving a bit with her bouncing. “ _ Yeds this is a couch did your c- _ ” Garrett stops mid sentence at the look Nott give him. “ _ Have you never been on a couch before? _ ” He rephases his question and Nott looks away from him again.

“ _ I know of couches, I just didn’t know that they were this. _ ” She makes a face and Garrett laughs. “ _ Why would you sleep on one of these? Isn’t there more beds in this place? _ ” She questions with a squished face. 

“ _ I do have a bed, but you are currently using it. _ ” Garrett explains with a pointed look at her. 

“ _ Why didn’t you push me out of it then? _ ” Nott asks incredulously. “ _ I wouldn’t’ve fought you for you. _ ” He looks at her and she has to look away. “ _ That was a lie, I probably would’ve killed you. _ ” He lets out a bark of laughter startling her a bit. 

“ _ I don’t mind the couch, but if you’d like it instead, I’d be glad to take my room back. _ ” Nott purses her lips and scrunches her eyebrows at him, she lets out a noise of disapproval. “ _ Alright. _ ” He laughs. “ _ Or we could just share a bed. _ ”

Nott freezes her actions and looks at the floor in front of her. It’s a little jab, something to tease her, but it still makes her freeze in thought, she glances at him from the corner of her eye and has to look away. Thoughts of how halflings look better than goblins fill her head as it begins to compare, she has to shake them away, not liking the thoughts that fill her head. 

“ _ Hey. _ ” Garretts voice comes in softer and he looks at her with concerned look. “ _ I was only teasing. _ ” Hey goes to put a hand on her shoulder.

As soon as she feels the weight of the hand on her, she slaps it away angrily.

“ _ I know! Don’t patronize me! _ ” Nott snaps at him and moves to the very edge of the couch to get away from him. “ _ You sleep on your stomach you know that. _ ” She starts to speak without thinking. “ _ You also look like a baby when you sleep. You’d be defenseless against any attacks. It’s a sign of a weakling, I could’ve killed you if I wanted to earlier. _ ” Nott’s words come tumbling out bitter and venomous, Garrett should be taken back instead a smile grows on his face. 

“ _ You were watching me sleep this morning? _ ” He asks amused, leaning back a bit to look at her fully. 

Nott takes in a big inhale of air and crosses her arms, before shooting up from the couch and back into Garretts room making sure to slam the door behind her.

Garrett winces at the sound and sits alone on the couch.

Nott stays in the room by herself, she stays curled on the bed like she was last night except now she was glaring at a spot on the bed. Goblins weren’t attractive, not even to other goblins, but they were all she ever knew, the only thing she saw alive. She had seen dead humans, halflings, and elves, their body’s or heads brought back as trophies, not something she found particularly nice to look at. 

Nott wished she had actually died at this point in the day though due to Garrett calling her out like he did. Nott finally calmed down from her little crisis and spent the rest of the time in the room playing with the ends of her hair and singing the ends a bit with the candle that lit the room. There’s a knock at the door before someone opens the door, Nott glares when Garrett’s face comes into view. 

“ _ I just wanted to drop in, see how you were doing. _ ” He opens the door wider so he can enter the room, he looks at the candle burning the edges of her hair. “ _ There are better ways to cut your hair. _ ” Nott narrows her eyes at him. 

Garrett smiles before leaving her alone again, she thinks he’s left for good before he comes back in with his mother in hand. 

“What are you doing?” Eoelle runs over to Nott as soon as she sees the candle burning her hair, she removes it from her hand immediately. “Look at what you’ve done to your hair.” She tsk’s as she reaches out to touch the hair, Nott moves away with a small growl. 

“Yeah that’s why I suggested cutting her hair, I wasn’t just being an ass.” He gives a little laugh when his mother throws him a look of disapproval over her shoulder at his cursing. “She doesn’t want to be touched at the moment.”

“Can you tell her that I’m just trying to help, I don’t want to hurt her.” Eoelle looks over Nott with a worried look. 

“She thinks everyone’s out to get her, I’ve tried to convince her otherwise, quiet unsuccessfully if I might add.” Garrett says staying near the doorway giving the goblin girl some space, not completely sure what he did wrong earlier that got her angry. 

“Can you just do it.” His mother demands and rolls his eyes before sighing. 

“ _ Nott, _ ” She looks over at him, “ _ my mother wants you to know that she’s just trying to help and she doesn’t want to hurt you. _ ” Nott goes to protest but he cuts her off quickly. “ _ Please just let her cut your hair, or else I’ll never hear the end of it. _ ” Garrett pleads with her and for a moment Nott looks to the bed in what looks like genuine thought and concentration. 

“ _ Fine. _ ” She speaks curtly, she lifts her eyes from the bed to meet his. “ _ Tell her she can cut my hair _ .” Nott watches as he nods at her gratefully and turns to say something to his mother and she looks back at Nott with a happy smile. 

Gently Eoelle grabs Nott’s hand and leads her off the bed and to the table with all the chairs and sets her down in one before patting her shoulder and heading off into the hallway again. Garrett sits in one of the chairs by the fireplace and begins to read a book, he doesn’t look at her as they wait for his mother to get back. Eoelle comes back with a comb and a pair of shears, she sets them down before gathering Nott’s hair so it’s out of her face. Nott squeals when she feels a sharp tug at the back of her head, she brings her hands up to pull her hair away from Eoelle. She says something to Garrett, he doesn’t look up from his book as he speaks. 

“ _ She needs to comb through your hair before she can cut it, it’s going to hurt a bit. _ ” He throws a look over at her. “Nothing you can’t take though.” He smiles before going back to reading.

It takes Nott a moment to accept her fate before she slowly removes her hands from her hair to grip at the chair instead. Eoelle makes a delighted humming sound as she continues her torture to Nott’s hair. There are more knots in Nott’s hair than she thought there would be, she would let out yelp of pain every other tug at her hair. It takes a good thirty minutes to get through all of Nott’s hair to make it relatively smooth. 

“Now’s the easy part.” Eoelle sigh’s out as she sets down the now broken comb, Garrett snorts from his chair, she ignores him as she reaches for the sheers. 

Her movements are quick and precise as she cuts through the hair, making sure each piece of hair is the same length. It takes less time than the actual brushing of her hair to finish cutting her hair so it’s just below her chest and not down past her butt. Nott looks down at the floor to see all of her hair on the ground, she brings her hand to her hair to feel at her hair and then takes a piece to examine it. Goblins don’t bathe necessarily, they wipe down after a particularly rough battle, but they don’t submerged themselves into water. Not that she would want to, she’s deathly afraid of going into the water. Nott looks up to see Eoelle looking down at her with a bright smile she looks away to look at Garrett. 

“ _ How do you say ‘Thank you’. _ ” He looks up at her sudden question, taken a bit off guard by the hair no longer covering her face. 

“ _ W-What? _ ” He asks a bit startled, then shakes himself out of it. “ _ You just said thank- _ ” He begins to tease but she’s quick to cut him off. 

“ _ No jokes. _ ” She snaps. “ _ I want to thank Eoelle. _ ” The woman looks between the two at the sound of her name. Nott keeps looking at Garrett and waits for the word. 

He has to take a moment to find the words suddenly his brain forgetting all other words.“U-uhm. _ You say it _ ‘Thank you’.” Garrett says quickly in common and almost repeats himself thinking he said it too fast, but then Nott nods before turning fully to look at his mother.

“Thank you, Eoelle.” Her voice is a bit hesitant and rough as the foreign words come out. 

Eoelle gasps a bit at the words and Nott worries for a moment that she had said the words wrong or that Garrett had set her up to say something terrible, instead though she’s instantly wrapped up in arms. Eoelle holds her in a tight hug and Nott isn’t exactly sure what to do as she hangs limp in her grasp. Garrett looks over as Nott’s head peeks out from over his mother’s shoulder, Nott looks back at him and he wraps his arms around himself to make a gesture to hug back. Hesitantly Nott stands up and puts her arms around the other woman, making sure to be careful of her nails as she curls her hands into fists in the fabric of her dress holding on tight. Warmth and comfort overflows her as she hugs Eoelle back. They have their hug for a long moment before the halfling woman pulls away and smiles at Nott and says something to Garrett with a final word, then leaves. 

“ _ What did she say? _ ” Nott asks frantically, the sudden urge to learn overpowering her as she takes quick steps towards him. 

“ _ She wants me to teach you to speak common. _ ” Garrett looks down at her and then turns away to cough a bit. “ _ Which is the language you just spoke to her. Are you up to it? _ ” He asks her and Nott nods eagerly. 

“ _ I want to learn. _ ” She steps closer until their toe to toe looking up at him with a determined look. 

“ _ Well let’s start shall we. _ ” Garrett smiles down at her. 

Nott tries to smile back, a bit unsure as she shows her teeth and spreads her lips. Garrett look down at her with amusement at her attempted smile. 

Nott counts it as a win. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More to come  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter  
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Drink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nott learns common and Garrett takes her out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some stuff happens, but nothing too bad.

It takes the rest of the day for Nott to learn how to say the basics, hello, how are you, good morning, good night, things like that. She was a fast learner and picked up the words quickly. By night time she’s able to have a standard conversation in common.

“ _ Your learning fast _ .” Garrett says at the end of the day. “ _ It’s like your mind is sponge, desperate for anything it can get _ .” She narrowed her eyes at the analogy. 

“ _ Are you trying to say I’m stupid? _ ” She asks incredulously, he laughs in response. “ _ Your a real piece of shit aren’t you _ .” She states with a glare before heading off to bed. 

The next few days pass by with ease, as they move on from simple sentences to different words when and how to use them, the proper form, pronunciation. Rosey insists on using her alphabet cards that they used on her, saying that Nott needed to know it so she could read. Eoelle has small conversations with her so she can practice speaking, Garrett always nearby to correct her on use of a word. 

The two were setting the table Eoelle asking what the utensils were as they go. “What is this?” Eoelle asks holding up a butter knife.

“Knife.” Nott speaks confidently as she takes it from the other woman and sets it down on the table. 

“Good.” She smiles and takes out a spoon. “And what’s this?” Nott takes it from her and speaks a little more hesitant.

“Food, scoop.” She can feel her face contort in to an unsure scrunch. “That’s not right.”

“Spoon!”Garrett calls from the next room and Nott immediately perks up. 

“Spoon! It’s spoon. I knew that.” She speaks hurriedly as she look at the spoon and speaks the word over to herself looking at the utensil.

Arric didn’t talk to her still cautious, but he would nod his head approvingly whenever Nott figured a word out or was able to tell what an object was in common. 

Her and Garrett were spending more time together of course, since he was the only one that could understand her when she needed to say something in her native tongue. But the learning process was not as disastrous as one would think. Nott was compliant for the most part and Garrett was only a little bit of an ass. Despite Nott’s better judgement and instinct, she was beginning to like the little family that had taken her in. Arric was still a bit closed off but seemed to begin to trust her. Eoelle praised her and gave her hugs whenever she did something that she found pleasing. Rosey was beginning to feel like her own sister and they spent time with each other as such, Rosey would play with and braid her hair, telling her she liked the green color it had. Garrett was, she gave him less death threats as the days passed, there was something else there when they would talk, but it was something that confused her and she’d rather ignore. 

Nott was staring into a mirror examining her big yellow eyes, multiple crooked sharp teeth and stringy hair. While spending time with the halflings was making her happier than she has been since forever, it was making her realize a few things. She doesn’t look them, they have soft features, straight teeth, rosy cheeks, and curly hair. Nott has sharp features, her green skin isn’t appealing, her ears are bigger than the others, her pupils are red like blood. There was so much  _ wrong _ with her and now she can’t unsee it. 

“ _ I didn’t take you for someone who’s obsessed with vanity. _ ” Garrett stands in the doorway to the washroom, she can see him in the mirror looking at her with a smile. Nott focuses back on her own reflection. 

“ _ I’m not. _ ” Her words a bit shaper than they had been recently. “ _ What’s the word for ‘ugly’.” _ She asks not looking away from her face. 

Garrett only looks at her, his smile falling from his face as he looks over Nott’s scowling reflection and stands up straight and walks so he’s behind her. Nott flinches a bit at the proximity but doesn’t move away, now a little more comfortable with being so close to someone else. 

“ _ Why do you want to know how to say that? _ ” He asks softly, she doesn’t look at him. 

“ _It describes a lot of things._ ” Nott says simply straightening herself out, switching to common. “It describes me. I am _ugly._ ” The word in goblin, she looks back at Garrett real quick before looking back at herself. 

Their silent as Garrett lets her words sink in, he shakes his head. Sure she wasn’t goddess and she didn’t look “normal”, but she certainly wasn’t ugly. At least not to him. 

“Forget it.” Nott snaps throwing her hands up as she turns around to leave. “Just forget I asked.” She tries to brush past Garrett, but he’s quick to grab her arm. 

He lets go almost immediately after. “I can think of a better word to describe you.” Nott winces and waits for a word worse than ugly. “ _ Beautiful. _ ” She looks up at him shocked. “Beautiful.” He repeats in common. 

Neither one of them say anything as they stand staring at each other, Nott feels heat crawl up onto her face, but she can’t find it in herself to do anything. She’s stuck looking up at Garrett and his green eyes, she hates how much she likes them. 

“Garrett?” Arric calls from across the house and their both brought out of their little stupor.

Nott steps away. “Y-Yes!” He calls back his words failing him as he tries to get his voice to sound natural.  

“Can you come here? I need help reaching something!” He asks his voice muffled from the walls between them. 

“Yeah, just give me a second.” Garrett squeezes his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to get his mind back on track. 

“I’ll let you do that.” Nott says quietly as she backs out of the washroom, the man's eyes snap open as he watches her sneak away. “Thank you,” she blushes, “for the word.” And with that she leaves out of sight, Garrett hear the sound of a door closing.

He stares at where she had been standing for a long moment before his father calls for him again. Garrett goes to help, the picture of Nott blushing a dark green staying in his mind. 

The day ends and a new one begins, he wants to take Nott out. Not in that way. He just wants her to get out and see new things, instead of staying inside of the house all of the time. Getting to spend time with her was a plus though. 

“I think Nott should get out of the house.” Garrett says to his parents while Nott slept. 

Arric scoffs. “Do you want to get her killed?” He asks looking over his glasses at his son. 

“She’s not going to die from going outside of this house.” Garrett dismisses. “I’ll bundle her up, she’ll be fine.” 

“Will she?” He looks over to his mother. “You know I’m the first one to want Nott to go out and do whatever makes her happy. But she’s not exactly a halfling.” Eoelle doesn’t look up from her stitching as she speaks. “If she gets caught, especially around here, it won’t end nicely.” She shakes her head. “More time, just wait a little longer.”

“Longer?” Garrett asks. “She’s spent most of her life outside, and now suddenly she’s forced to stay inside all the time. That’s not exactly fair to her.” He looks between his parents looking for sympathy, he finds none.

“Well it’s a no for me, I agree with your mother, it’s too dangerous.” Arric says before going back to his early morning reading. 

“I’m sorry but it’s a no.” Eoelle shrugs her shoulders in apology. 

“You know we’re both adults, I technically don’t need your permission to do anything.” He says challengingly as he crosses his arms. 

“But she’s all of our responsibility now, we keep her safe. Going out isn’t safe at the moment, so she is not to leave this house.” His mother looks up at him with a stern look. “Understood?” She asks with a pointed look.

“Understood.” Garrett responds in a quiet huff. 

It’s a little later in the day. Garrett and Nott are both sitting at the dining room table. He’s teaching her to spell and read, at the moment she’s writing down some sentences, though she was complaining about writing them a little bit ago. She doesn’t notice Garrett looking over her focused features or how he resists the urge to put the piece of hair that keeps falling in her face behind her ear. Shaking away those thoughts and the thoughts of their moment they had the day before, he decides those are dangerous thoughts. He look at her in thought for a moment longer before speaking, startling her with the sudden words making her jump a bit. 

“Do you want to go out?” Garrett’s own wording makes him blush, but Nott only looks at her confused.

“Out?” She questions looking at him with furrowed brows. “Out where?”

“You know to a tavern or two, things like that.” He shrugs nonchalantly despite his beating heart. 

“I don’t think that’s such a great idea.” Nott looks about the room, almost as if she was searching for a threat of some sort. “For someone like me.”

“We’ll stick you in a cloak and scarf, you’ll be fine.” Garrett shrugs it off as if it were no big deal. 

“It’s the middle of summer.” She says in a monotone.

“Your cold blooded.” He gives the explanation.

“I’m green.”

“Your feeling a little under the weather.” He gives her a smile and she has to look away. 

“I don’t know.” Nott looks down at the table in thought, a bit unsure.

“Come on, let’s go have some fun and get out of this stuffy house.” Garrett encourages, looking at her with pleading eyes.

“It has been a while since I’ve had a proper drink.” She muses touching the side of her face.

“Excellent. We’ll head out tonight, but we’ll have to be stealthy about it.” He rubs his hands together in excitement.

“What? Why?” Nott asks quickly, confused.

“ Well my parents don't exactly approve of you going out, but they don't have to know. ” He throws her a smile and a wink, she glower’s at him for a moment before turning back to focus on her work.

They continue Nott’s spelling lessons, Rosey comes to join them at some point and Nott feels some frustration when Rosey spells some words faster than she can, or corrects her work. She can’t stay like that for too long though, the little girl throws her smiles and it makes her immediately forgive her. When the night comes, Nott heads off to bed early telling them all goodnight, she waits in the room for around thirty minutes before she hears knocking on the window. Opening the window she’s met with the sight of Garrett standing at the window with a big smile. They don’t say anything as Nott jumps out the window and Garrett hands her a scarf and cloak to wear, once her ears are tucked and her face is covered they begin to walk towards the town. The fresh air is nice and Nott breathes it in in huge lungfulls, and she thinks the moon looks amazing as they walk down the street and into the first tavern they see. 

It’s crowded, at least it had more people in the space then Nott is used to. Second there are human and other species, there’s a little more halflings than there are humans and what not, but still. 

“Oh wow.” Nott mumbles to herself as they walk through the tavern to the bar. 

“What?” Garrett asks as he sets them up at a place in the bar. 

“ I just forgot how tall everyone is, I've been spending so much time with just halflings. ” She can’t help herself as she looks around. “ I guess it just caught me off guard, reminding me I'm not exactly... ” Her words trail off and Garrett makes sure to catch Notts eye before smiling. 

“Well I think your pretty regular compared to everyone else.” He reassures her and her lip quirks up a bit at the compliment. 

She doesn’t say anything in response, instead orders them their drinks. 

They finish their first drink in a comfortable silence, then they move onto their second some conversation picks up, Nott doesn’t take her time with this drink deciding to down it, taking long gulps at a time. Garrett watches her with wide eyes as he drinks at a normal pace, wondering if he should be worried as Nott orders her third drink. 

“Do you want to take it a bit slower?” He asks hesitantly watching Nott with a cautious look. 

“I’m fine. It’s been too long since I’ve had a good drink.” She explains as she takes another swig, each time she wants to takes a drink she has to lift up the bottom of her scarf. “ When I was with the other people all we ever drank was alcohol, water sometimes, and milk for the newborns, but the rest of us just drank alcohol. ” Nott says almost as if she was lost in thought then takes another drink, polishing it off.

“So you have quite the tolerance huh?” Garrett asks a bit amused, taking a sip.

“Yes, much higher than yours ever will be.” Nott teases him bumping into his side real quick before happily ordering another drink.

Garrett has to blink his surprise away at Nott’s sudden boldness and can’t help but smile at the little wiggle she does as she orders her fourth drink. 

Their night continues on in easy conversation, Nott’s confidence building, but she doesn’t start on her fourth drink she simply holds it in her grasp as she talks to Garrett. Through the night and easy conversation they somehow feel themselves gravitating towards each other, standing closer and closer, both of them leaning against the bar. It’s very surprsing when Garrett says something and Nott actually laughs and smiles, something she’s never done. Her attempts at smiles were cute and entertaining, but the real thing was entirely different, something that made his heart beat faster. It made him want make her laugh and smile and never stop. So he did, he kept making jokes and saying sweet things, and she kept laughing and smiling. Sure Nott had a few drinks in her, but it didn’t matter, the tipsy feeling was no different from the usual feeling she had when she was around Garrett. This time it was justified with the alcohol in her system.

“ Tell me Nott exactly how old are you. ” Garrett asks leaning in closer to her, telling himself it was because of loud patrons, he goes to take a sip of his drink. 

“I must be six by now, but I haven’t been keeping track.” She says with suck nonchalance that he almost misses it. 

Garrett spits out his drink at that. “Your how old?!” He asks looking at her refusing to believe that the woman in front of him was only six.

“I know what it sounds like-” Nott is quick in trying to explain, but Garrett’s quicker.

“Your as old as Rosey!” He exclaims at the sudden realization.

She moves closer to speak in a hushed tone. “Goblins age very differently from you,” Nott explains. “I am now matured, I’m at an age where I can't do certain things without caution.” Her cheeks darken at the implication of the sentence

Garrett feels his own face heat up. “I see.”

They are both silent as they let the information sink in. She wasn’t actually that young, physically and mentally she was much older than that. 

“How old did you think I was?” She asks. 

“At least twenty.” Garrett answers with a shrug. 

Nott look at him taken aback. “And how old are you?”

“Twenty two, also a matured adult age.” He says a slight smirk on his face as he begins to lean back into her space.

Nott gives a small smile. “Your really old.” She jokes.

“I'm actually quite young for the normal population. Your the young one here.” He teases her as he reaches forward to pull a piece of hair away from her face to behind her ear. 

Nott follows the action with her eye’s before gaining a determined look on her face.“I am of adult age. I can do whatever I want.”

“Really?” Garrett was very close now. 

“Mhm.” Nott hums looking up at him, her scarf slipping down to no longer cover her mouth.  

“Prove it.” He whispers challengingly.

“I will.” She whispers back. 

Without another word Nott pulls Garrett down by the collar of his shirt to press her lips against his. She’s never kissed anyone before and she’d be lying if she said that she hadn’t thought about it before. Nott had seen kisses before, Arric and Eoelle giving each other kisses good morning or a chaste kiss if one of them was heading out for the day. This was different though, she was kissing—or at least she hoped she was— Garrett and she had no idea what she was doing. Nott didn’t have to worry for long though, because not even a second after she presses him close he’s grabbing her by the waist and holds the side of her face. Garrett moves her head to the side, gently guiding her as he moves his lips against hers. It’s sweet, but Nott doesn’t want sweet. 

She licks at his bottom lip and as he gasps at the feeling puts her tongue in his mouth, she’s not sure what to do when she gets in there but again Garrett helps out and starts to move his tongue against hers. His grip tightens around her waist, pulling her close, she stands on her toes to get as close as she can, she removes one hand from his collar to wrap around his neck to get him as close as possible. They move apart when air is a must and pant for air with their foreheads resting against each other. Nott opens her eyes to look up at Garrett to see him already looking at her. Smiles grow on their faces as he rubs his thumb over her cheek bone, then moves down to swipe across her lip. She kisses his thumb and pulls him down in to another kiss. Not a second later is she taking that same hand in hers and running out of the tavern with him,Once their outside Nott pulls down her scarf fully and pulls him against her until their backed against a wall and their kissing again. Garrett laughs as they kiss and pulls her away from the building and they start to run towards home, stopping a few times to steal a kiss. 

They make it back without a problem and they quietly but quickly make their way through the home to Garrett’s bedroom where Nott was currently staying. The door closes and Nott is quick to throw off the cloak and scarf, once their off Garrett is just as quick to pull her to him again. Nott eagerly kisses him, wanting all of him at once, afraid that if they stopped then it would be over and she wouldn’t be able to feel this amount of care anymore. He pulls away just a tad to look at her.

“Slowly.” Garrett smiles down at her and gives her a small peck. “Slow.” He gives her another quick kiss.

Nott nods in understanding and leans up to kiss him and somehow the slow kiss is better than when it was heated and fast, fills her with a new warmth in her heart and belly. She begins to walk backwards until the back of her knees hit the edge of the bed, Nott falls back taking Garrett with her. He falls onto the bed so he’s between her legs, they continue on now building their momentum. Nott moves her hands up to his shoulders to push off the vest he was wearing, and he has sit up real quick to pull it off before coming back down to her in an open mouthed kiss. Garrett sets his forearm next to her head, while the other hand is at her waist pulling up her shirt a bit so he can draw small circles with his thumb onto her skin. Nott’s hands move to his neck and head, gripping tightly at his hair making sure to keep as close to her as possible. Garrett pulls away from her mouth to kiss his way from her cheek to her neck. He loves the little noises she makes as he kisses at her neck especially when she gasps his name when he gives her a little nip. Nott pulls him back to her, kissing him at full force moving her hips up against his a bit hesitant, but she’s rewarded with him gasping against her mouth. Impatiently Nott pulls his lip between her teeth and gives a little bite. Her teeth are sharp though, and that little bite makes him pull back to wipe at his lip with his tongue and tastes blood. Garrett’s suddenly aware of their position and what they had been doing for the past half hour, all he can do is look down at her with a blank expression. 

“What? What’s wrong?” Nott asks breathlessly looking back at him, he thinks she look absolutely beautiful with a flushed face and her hair spread out like fan around her head.

“We can’t do this.” Garrett says quietly as he sits back on his knees. 

“Why not?” She demands as she sits up, but stops when she looks down at his slightly bleeding lip, it takes her a moment before she narrows her eyes. “Oh. I know.” Her words are low and dangerous.

Garrett is confused by her sudden change in attitude and licks his lip and tastes the blood, his eyes widen. “It’s not what your thinking.” He says quickly, because it really wasn’t, he wanted to, like  _ really _ wanted to, but they both weren’t thinking properly at the moment. 

“It’s exactly what I’m thinking.” Nott growls viciously as she pushes him as hard as she can off of her. 

“Nott-” He stumbles off the bed, but she’s getting off the bed and pushing him away again. 

“Get out.” She pushes him again. “Get away from me!” Nott all but screeches at him. 

Garrett looks down at her with sad eyes as she pushes him towards the door. “Nott it’s really not what you thi-” She cuts him off quickly. 

“Don’t look at me like that.” Nott barks, glaring up at him, he tries to speak but she hold up her hand. “If you don't stop talking I really will kill you this time.” Her voice is harsh and serious. “Now. Get. Out.” Looking away from Garrett she opens the door. 

Garrett says nothing as he goes to walk out the door, he stop at the doorway and turns around to face Nott, she still wasn't looking at him. He sighs through his nose before leaning forward and kisses the top of her head, he's surprised when she doesn't attack him but instead squeezes her eyes shut. He leaves the room and Nott shuts the door behind him immediately 

As soon as he's out of the room Nott slides down the door and curls in on her self feeling a small tear falls down her face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this!  
> Kind of a sad note  
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrett goes after Nott and she runs into an old acquaintance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things go a bit south, but don't worry too much, it gets fixed pretty soon

There’s a lot happening when Garrett wakes up the next morning, the first thing that hits him is the sunlight in his eyes, the next thing is the sound of crying and hushing, and then he’s remembering what happened the night before. Slowly he gets up, sitting up on the couch, pushing back his hair away from his face and looks around the room, the sound of silent crying continues from the hallway and he finds himself hoping and praying that it’s not Nott. He pulls back the small blanket he has over himself and makes his way towards the crying, his heart thuds against his chest with guilt when he stops at his own bedroom door. It’s open a crack and he can hear the sound of his mother whispering and hushing the girl on the other side of the door, he closes his eyes and takes in a breath of air as the image of Nott’s defeated face plays in his mind. Garrett softly pushes the door open with one hand and peeks in, only to see Rosey in his mother’s arms crying instead of Nott. He opens the door wider and looks at the two in confusion. 

“What’s going on?” Eoelle looks up at the sound of his voice, Rosey clings to her tightly. “Is there something wrong?”

“Nott left.” She says simply her eyes looking mournful.

“When?” Garrett asks stiffly as he looks around the room, searching for Nott.

“Early this morning, as soon as I woke up she said she had to go.” She pats down Rosey’s hair as she sniffles. “I told her she should wait until everyone else was up, she said it would only make it harder and then left.”

He was an idiot. This was all his fault. He should’ve tried harder to explain. It wasn’t that she was goblin or that she looked different. It was that they both had a considerable amount to drink and he wasn’t exactly sure how far Nott had gotten with anyone before him. Garrett didn’t want to take advantage of her or take an experience away from her. 

“How long ago did she leave?” Garrett asked quickly, taking more steps into the room. 

“I told you this morn-” Eoelle begins.

“I know this morning, but how long ago?” He waits patiently at the end of the bed waiting for the answer. 

“About forty minutes ago.” She responded and looks at him with confusion. “Why?” Eoelle inqures.

“I’m going to go get her.”

Without another word he begins to go around his room picking up fresh clothes, his crossbow, he goes to pick up his two daggers only to find one of them missing. Garrett can’t help the small smile that comes to his face as he grabs the one dagger. After getting dressed and stuffing everything into a bag he rushes out of the house. 

“Garrett!” He turns at the sound of Rosey yelling his name, she was running towards him. “Garrett.” She says again as she stops in front of him.

“What is it Rosey?” He asks waiting for her to talk. 

“Are you really bringing Nott back?” Rosey asks urgently, Garrett only nods.“Give her these.” She holds out her hand to reveal a bundle of flowers that Garrett had seen growing in the back of their house.

“Why?” A small chuckle passes his lips as he crouches down and takes them from her out reached out hands. 

“Girls like flowers.” Rosey explains simply. “Just in case she doesn’t want to come back.”

Garrett gives her an appreciative smile. “Thank you, I’ll make sure to give these to her.” He stands up and pats her on the head. “I’ll try to bring her back by tonight.” He calls behind him and sticks the flowers into his bag.

Rosey watches until he’s out of sight. 

Nott wasn’t lost, if she really wanted to figure out where she was she would find out, but she at the moment she had no idea where to go. Her clan certainly wouldn’t take her back and she just left the only people that would ever accept her. 

Nott had decided to leave after she had calmed down, packed a little bag, put on a cloak, covered her face as best she could and said goodbye to Eoelle. It was safe to say she had felt utterly humiliated, but that's not why she had left. Nott had forgotten for a brief moment that she was different and that she didn’t belong in society, she didn’t deserve the kindness she had received, and she didn’t deserve Garrett. She’s a goblin, goblins are vicious and gnarly and jagged and,  _ ugly _ . 

The word she never learned in common because Garrett said it doesn’t describe her, that she was. No. She shakes away the thought of Garrett calling her that word, because it wasn’t real, it wasn’t true. It was cruel to have that memory stuck in her brain, that and the thought of her and Garrett together the night before. The way he pulled her close, kissed her gently, breathed against her neck, left a little mark behind, rubbed small circles on her bare stomach. The way he pulled away, looked down at her, at her teeth, licked the blood from his lip. 

She felt like an idiot, thinking that anyone could ever want her, especially someone like Garrett who was  _ beautiful _ and kind and smart and funny, all things she would never admit to him.

A twig snaps behind her and she’s quick to turn around holding Garrett’s dagger in her hand as she looks around. She doesn’t see anything, at first, but then she hears it, the very faint sound of an arrow being pulled against the string of a bow, Nott quickly ducks down.  _ Whoosh.  _ An arrow goes flying by and shoots into a tree with a twang, she stays low as she looks at the source to see a snarling Goblin. For a moment she doesn’t recognize them, but then she does. His name is Kuvnec, they make eye contact and he slowly steps out of the shadows while she stands to her full height. They don’t look away from each other as he keeps an arrow on the bow, not pulling back fully. 

“ _ I almost didn’t recognize you runt. _ ” He snarls and looks her over, Nott pulls back her hood and scarf. 

“ _ What’re you doing this far away from the clan? _ ” She asks, the dagger tight in her grip. 

“ _ Nothing that concerns you. _ ” She flinches at his tone but doesn’t look away. “ _ You look like a halfling filth. _ ” He comments and she merely narrows her eyes.

“ _ At least halfling filth can shoot their target the first time. _ ” Nott bites back and Kuvnec bares his teeth at her. 

“ _ Bold words for a weakling. _ ” He raises his bow a bit, but doesn’t pull the arrow back. “ _ I could’ve shot you dead by now. _ ” Nott only stands up straighter as he takes steps towards her looking her over, she schools her expression to show no emotion. “ _ Your feistier, despite being only gone for a little while. Who gave you that confidence? _ ” It's rhetorical of course.

He’s close now as he takes a hand off the arrow to take a piece of her hair between his fingers. Kuvnec looks her over more closely now, sniffing at Nott, examining her. She watches as a sickening smile spreads over his face as he moves the piece of hair away from her to look at her neck and the small mark that Garrett had left on her. 

“ _ You’ve been busy. _ ” Kuvnec says teasingly. “ _ What have you been doing weakling. _ ” His tone is too knowing to be a question.

Nott’s stomach drops uncomfortably at the tone in voice and rips her self away from him and backs away. “ _ Fuck you. _ ” She growls. 

He continues on with the same twisted smile. “ _ You’re fed properly. _ ” He continually runs his eyes over her body, tilting his head. “ _ You seem stronger than before, more courageous, not the best female I’ve seen but now more appealing to look at. _ ” Kuvnec sniffs the air again and then spits off to the side. “ _ I thought I was mistaken before, but you reek of the halflings. _ ” Quick he takes her arm and brings her in close with an iron grip. “ _ Is that where you got the mark harlot. _ ”

Nott brings her other hand holding the dagger up to slash at him, but he grabs her wrist before it can hit him, he then quickly brings them down to the ground pinning her to the dirt. Kuvnec slams the dagger out of her hand, Nott tries kicking up at him to get free, but he pins her legs under his own. 

“ _ Get off of me! _ ” She yells struggling with all her might, but he’s much bigger and stronger than her. “ _ I'll kill you!”  _

“ _ Tell me. _ ” He moves her hands together to grasp at both her wrists in one hand as he strokes a hand on her face. “ _ Did the halfling begin, but then see what you really were and leave? Or did he finish and kick you to the street afterwards? _ ” Kuvnec’s words are harsh and hit too close to home. 

Her only response is to spit in his face. “ _ Bastard! _ ” She yells as he wipes the spit from his face with one hand. 

His lip curls with a snarl before it turns back into a smile. “ _ You should smell of goblin instead of halfling. _ ” With that he reaches down between them.

Nott looks around her surroundings in a panic looking for something to get her away from the goblin as he begins to unbuckle himself. She looks off to the side where Garrett’s dagger lay after it was forced out of her hand. Looking back at Kuvnec’s contorted face, Nott purses her lips before bringing her head forward and slamming it against his nose as hard as she can, a loud crack resonates throughout the forest. He pulls back immediately to hold his nose, which gives Nott the movement she needs to reach for the dagger and slash at the goblin as he reaches for her again. Nott crawls away never turning her back on him and stands, he reaches for his bow and she kicks it away and then kicks his face, he howls in pain. 

“ _ I am not a weakling. _ ” She says firmly standing over him and kicks him again. “ _ I am not a runt. _ ” Another kick. “ _ I am Nott and I’m going kill you. _ ” She all but spits out and kicks him especially hard in the ribs.

“ _ You may kill me. _ ” He wheezes out. “ _ But no amount of death will make you less of a weakling, you’ll always be a coward, a piece of filth others will look down on no matter what. _ ” Kuvnec holds his ribs as he bleeds from the nose and gives a labored laugh. “ _ Nott the coward! _ ” He coughs up a bit of blood with a chuckle.

His laughter continues and soon it’s too much for Nott to bare, she picks up the bow and arrow and shoots him in the head twice before throwing it to the side. All she can do is breathe deeply and stares at his body.

“Nott?” She turns quickly to see Garrett standing near a tree looking at her. “Are you alright?” He takes a step forward, she takes a step back. 

“ _ Don’t! _ ” She snaps and looks at the ground between them. “Don’t come near me.” She says quieter in common. “I’m fine.” Nott crosses her arms and stands up straighter, never looking at Garrett. “Just someone from before.” She explains jerking her head towards the body. “What are you doing out here anyway?!” Nott furrows her brow in frustration.

“I.” He looks between the dead goblin and Nott. “I came to bring you back home.” She looks up at that her gaze cool as steel.

“Home?” Nott bites out. “I don’t have a home. I don’t belong to a clan and I don’t belong to a family, now go back  _ home  _ and leave me alone.” She picks up the dagger and turns around to leave. 

“Nott.” She keeps walking. “Nott!” No response, she hears him running up behind her. “Nott wait!” Gently he grabs her by the arm, she spins around to face him, glaring.

“What?” Nott says her temper rising, Garrett lets go of her.

“You don’t think you belong in a home? With a family?” He begins looking down at her with disbelief. “With  _ my _ family?” Garrett asks more specifically now.

Nott has to blink at that and looks away from him a frown forming on her face. “No, I don’t.” She responds. “Especially not with your family.”

“And why’s that?” Garrett can’t help the offended tone that creeps into his voice, Nott’s frown deepens. 

“Because of you!” She retorts quickly. “I’d hate for my teeth and face and everything!” Nott gestures to her entirety before continuing. “To ruin your day and mood.” She throws her hands up in exasperation and then crosses her arms over herself.

Garrett has to take a moment, confused by her words but then it clicks. “What? Nott, no. That’s not- I wasn’t- I wanted- You were- I mean I was- It wasn’t-” Nott watches with a perplexed look as he struggles with his words, a blush spreads across his cheeks as he tries to explain. Finally he takes a calming breath. “Last night.” He begins calmly and Nott watches him cautiously. “We had a lot to drink. And I didn’t know how experienced you were in that particular area of life?” The redness spreads on his face as he stumbles through his explanation a bit awkwardly. “The point is,” he sighs, “It’s not that I didn’t want to be with you, because I did. I just didn’t think that it was the best course of action at the moment.” 

Nott wants to laugh at how red Garrett is at the moment, but despite his explanation she still feels the frustration of the night before.

She grumbles under her breath. “It wasn’t your decision to make, it was mine.” Garrett scoffs making Nott look up at him.

“Are you mad at me for not taking advantage of you?” He asks incredulously, she glower’s back at him. 

“No! I just-” Nott stops short trying to think of an actual reason to stay angry at the man in front of her. They were too close, she takes steps back. “I don’t believe you.” And to an extent she didn’t, that he wanted to be with her in any way. 

“And whys that?” Garrett asks taking steps towards Nott takes steps back. “Why wont you believe me?” His voice is soft and quiet as Nott feels her back hit a tree and then he’s standing right in front of her. 

“Do you want me to list them out for you?” She snarks back and her eyes widen when Garrett laughs. 

“If I can list the reasons for you to believe me.” He smiles at her and slowly takes her hand in his, she doesn’t jerk it away, but instead stands frozen. “Nott, I know it’s hard to believe, but you are one of the bravest beings I have ever met.” She feels her heart speed up as she looks up at Garrett. “You are Nott, the Brave.” Her heart soars and she can’t even think properly at the moment. 

“Of course I am.” Nott begins to speak without knowing. “I had to beat down one of the bigger Goblins of my old clan, which was your fault by the way!” She shrieks, Garrett only looks down at her with fondness as he begins to close the gap between them. “You left a hickey on my neck. Marking me like I’m a piece,” He leans in until their noses are touching, “piece of meat.” She finishes roughly, her eyes going cross to look him in the eyes. “What are you doing?” Nott knows what he’s doing, her head tilting a bit. 

“You know, just leaning in casually.” His breath brushes on her lips as he talks. “Hoping you dont push me away.” 

They look at each other for a moment and Nott feels her other hand come up and brush a piece of hair away from his face then caresses the side of his face. Garrett smiles before dipping down and kissing her, it’s slow and gentle, Nott revels in the feeling of Garrett pressed closely to her and the way the bark of the tree presses into her back. It’s wonderful. 

“We should probably move.” Garrett says when they pull away. “The dead body and all.” They both look over his shoulder to see Kuvnec laying on the ground dead. “Kind of a mood killer.” He grimaces jokingly. 

There was something about a kill being so close by while Nott kisses the handsome man that makes it so much more exhilarating, like this is her reward. 

“Not really.” She says turning back to Garrett. “I kind of like it.” Nott says as she brings him in close again. 

“Oh.” He blushes deep red as she brings him back into a kiss.

She holds him close as she rakes her hand through his hair, playing with the curls along the way. Garrett holds one side of her waist close to him, his grip a bit tight. They pull away and look at each other with little smiles, but then Garrett perks up before pulling away. 

“Rosey wanted me to give you these just in case you didn’t want to come back.” He goes digging into his bag and pulls out a small bundle of flowers. “She said girls like flowers.”

Nott reaches out and gently takes them from Garrett, making sure to be delicate with the petals.

“I do like flowers.” Nott whispers as she pets the petals. 

He plucks one from the bundle and places it behind her hair. “They look lovely on you.” Garrett comments as he reaches for her hand again, she takes his. 

They hold hands as they slowly make their way back to the house, Nott leans heavily on Garrett, afraid he might disappear if she doesn’t keep a tight grip. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is how she got her name  
> Plot twist is this entire thing is my headcannons for Nott  
> Nott fought and won   
> Garrett really likes her  
> Thanks for reading!  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	5. Talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nott and Garrett have an important conversation and Garrett shows Nott where he works.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, sorry about the late update  
> I've been busy  
> But here's an update I hope you enjoy it!

It was a little while before evening before they arrived little ways from the home when Nott stopped them, Garrett walks a little bit before he feels her tug his hand, he looks back to see her staring at their hands. 

“What’s wrong?” Garrett asks, she tugs him towards her and he moves willingly.

“Can we take a moment.” Nott says quietly before wrapping her arms around Garrett’s waist

He responds by hugging her back, they take their moment to rock gently as Nott breathes in the scent of the halfling with her eyes closed while Garrett sets his chin on top of her head and then kisses it before pulling away. 

“I think this should be between just us.” Nott looks up at him a bit hesitant, Garrett looks down at her with a confused face. 

“Why?” He tries to look at her face fully, trying to understand what exactly she was talking about. 

“I don’t think it would go over well, that’s all.” She looks off into the distance where the house stands. 

“What’re you talking about? Everybody loves you.” He takes her by the shoulders and laughs, a little amused at her worrisome nature. 

Nott pushes his hands away with a frown.“Don’t do that patronizing thing, I hate that, it’s like your just brushing my concerns off.” She gives him a bit of a glare.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel that way.” Garrett takes a little step back putting his hands up. “Now why are you worried?” He asks more considerate. 

“It’s just that,” Nott sighs deeply, “sure they like me, but what would they think of their son being with a goblin.” Her frown deepens at the word goblin. “It’s not exactly every parents dream.”

“Well whether it’s my parents dream for me or not is none of their damn business.” The corner of Nott’s lips quirks up the smallest bit making Garrett smile. “I want to be with you, and they don’t have to know unless we want them to. I can wait for you to be ready.” A little smile overcomes Nott’s face and brightens Garrett’s day even more.

“Thank you.” She whispers and gives him a kiss on the cheek before continuing down the path towards the house. 

When they make it inside the family is having a quiet dinner, their heads snap up at the sound of the door unlocking and Rosey is the first to stand up and run over to the door. Nott is immediately met with a hug from Rosey and is nearly knocked over. 

“Don’t leave again.” Rosey says quickly into her shirt, holding her tightly. 

Nott looks back at Garrett, he smiles back at her, she then feels another set of arms wrap around her, Nott’s heart warms when she realizes that Eoelle is hugging her. She hugs them back tightly.

“I won’t.” Nott whispers back.

Once their hugging fest is done, Eoelle sits everyone down at the table to feed Nott and Garrett as she talks in circles about how worried she was about Nott and how worried she was that Garrett wasn’t going to be able to find her. Nott had been barely  gone a day and Eoelle and Rosey were talking as if she had been gone for days. It was something the goblin girl appreciated more than anything. Soon it grew dark outside and everyone was getting ready for bed, growing more tired as the day was ending, Nott especially after not getting a full nights rest in the past two days. Rosey went to bed first, then Garrett set up on the couch, Nott headed to bed next, and then Eoelle and Arric went to bed last. 

She was almost in a deep sleep when she heard a soft knock at her door, Nott gets up slowly expecting to see Rosey at her door, instead opens it to reveal a somewhat timid looking Garrett at her door. 

“Oh, hi.” Nott says blinking herself awake, not expecting him to still be awake.

“Hey.” Garrett whispers back and offers a small smile. “I’ve come to take back my bed.” He leans in closer so his head peaks into the room.

“Fuck off, you can have it back later, I’m tired.” Nott rubs at her eyes groggily and goes to close the door, but Garrett stops it with his hand.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Garrett puffs out frustratedly. “I meant I want to share.” A light blush crosses his cheeks. 

It takes a moment for the words to process before Nott understands. “Oh.” She looks back at the bed then back at Garrett. “Just sleeping?” She asks.

“Just sleep.” He confirms. “Unless you want to,” he makes a twirling gesture with his hand to continue but continues by himself quickly, “but your probably tired.” Nott blushes. 

“Not that I wouldn’t want to.” She cuts off quickly. “But I am very tired, and you are too. Sleep is good.” Nott nods heat crawling up her face. “I like sleeping.” She adds and then opens the door for him to come in before shutting it. 

Nott gets back into the twin sized bed, she faces Garrett when she lays down and they lay there staring at each other. They both lay at the edge, trying to give the other space. 

“I.” Nott begins but stops and licks her lips, Garrett says nothing as he waits for her to continue. “I’ve never done anything like this before.” Her voice is heitant as she begins to trace shapes in the sheets. “Relationships.” She clarifies in such a soft whisper he almost doesn’t catch it. “No one ever saw me in that way, thought I was good mate material.” Nott’s voice comes out bitter as she talks. “Too small.” She looks up from where she was drawing shapes to look at him, her yellow eyes glowing in the dark. “I’ve never been with anyone this way, is what I’m trying to get at.”

Garrett doesn’t say anything as he moves forward a bit and wraps an arm around her and brings her in close, she freezes for a moment but then relaxes resting her head against his chest, breathing in his scent. 

“First, I think your perfect.” He whispers, Nott makes a noise and he laughs. “Alright maybe not perfect, but I think you're pretty great and all those goblins are missing out.” Garrett continues. “You get me tongue tied, which has never happened to me before,” he begins, “I can’t think right, up is down and right is left. There are times when your all I can think about and it drives me crazy.” Garrett looks down, making sure their looking eye to eye. “ _ You _ drive me crazy.” 

“And-” Nott has to swallow her throat suddenly dry. “And it doesn’t bother you that I’ve never been with anyone before?” Her voice timid as she looks up at him.

“No.” His answer is immediate. “We don’t have to have sex or do anything else for us to be in a relationship, I don’t need it. We can take things one step at a time, still be friends, nothing has to change.” Garrett smiles down at her and Nott smiles back.

“Thank you for that.” She says and looks back down at his chest setting her hand over his heart. “Goodnight Garrett.” 

“Goodnight Nott.” 

He wakes up early that morning to sneak out of the room and back to his couch so no one goes looking for where he had gone during the night. From there things progressed. Garrett continued to sneak off to sleep with Nott at night and come back to the couch early in the morning. It was a little tiring, but those moments spent holding each other during the night was what made it worth it for him. They had continued on in their relationship and Nott was glad that nothing had to change, if anything it made their friendship stronger, that and on occasion they got to steal kisses when no one was looking. 

Garrett was smart and talented even in ways Nott did not know yet, there was something about him that was entirely different and intrigued her about him. Something that peaked her interest more than it already was. It was probably the fact that he was always disappearing, off to do his ever elusive job. He said it was kind of dangerous for anyone to know and that just made Nott want to know even more, she was very nosey after all. 

After almost two weeks of spending time with the family and Garrett, Eoelle finally agreed to let Garrett take Nott on a walk, which Nott hated that they needed permission in the first place. It made her feel like a kid and they were both adults, it was infuriating to say the least. She understood Eoelle’s constant concern, that she had for herself, and she was making sure Nott wouldn’t run off again. 

Once their far enough away from the home, Garrett takes Nott’s hand in his own, making Nott lean into the contact immediately. They barely got to be like this, where they were both awake and not hidden away in the night, and if they did get a moment to themselves it only lasted a minute or so before someone was walking in having them doing something or other. 

“So, I’m curious.” Nott begins as they continue their walk. “What exactly do you do? For your job that is.” She feels him tense, almost freeze, at her question and she looks up at him as his face scrunches up in a concentrated look.

“I work in, trading.” He says slowly, always looking ahead as they walk, Nott stops them.

“You’re a terrible liar.” She says simply looking up at him. “Tell me your real job.”

“I’m not lying, it’s just not the whole truth.” Garrett explains quickly, looking everywhere but her. “If my parents ever knew what I did, Gods they would try to lock me up in that house forever.” He mutters to himself.

“I won’t try to lock you up.” Nott squeezes his hand a bit, making him finally look at her, he smiles down at her. 

“You’d never be able to catch me.” He squeezes her hand back, but Nott smacks the side of his arm at the comment.

“Spill.” She demands and Garrett sighs. 

“I’m a smuggler, for the most part.” Garrett explains, he tugs on Nott’s hand to start their walk again. “I work in a black market type field. I take odd jobs and take leads on places to, ya know, raid. Mostly though, I smuggle things for people and make acids for gold or trade.” 

“Hm, I see.” Is all she says, a bit lost in thought. “We had stuff like that, back where I’m from. There were different jobs everyone did, that was one of them, raiding villages and such.” Nott looks up at him with furrowed brows. “You make acid?” 

He looks back at her. “Yeah. It takes a lot of skill to make it too.” Garrett says with a wiggle of his eyebrows. “It’s not too hard, it’s just chemistry, but if you wanted to I could teach you how to make it.” He offers.

“That’d be nice, I’d like to know how to do chemistry.” Nott says thoughtfully. “I’ve always wanted to try and learn new things, and I’m glad that I’m finally able to do that.”

“What did you do, before you were here?” Garrett asks. 

“They tried to put me in different jobs around the clan, but I wasn’t good at any of them, so they left me to fend for myself.” She shrugs. “Thus my name. I’m not good at anything. I’m Nott.” 

There’s a moment of thoughtful silence as Garrett processes the information about Nott and everything she had just told him. Nott squeezes his hand again making him look at her. 

“Show me your base.” She says. 

“My base?” Garrett asks confused by the sudden demand.

“Yeah, where you guys all meet up, go get your jobs and stuff.” Nott explains and Garrett smiles down at her. 

“Alright.” She brightens up at that. “I don’t see why not, you already know everything anyway.”

He takes her off the path, they move through bushes and forest,  and soon Nott doesn’t recognize anything as they continue walking. Soon their brought to a small clearing with a little shack in the middle of it, Nott speaks as they move towards it. 

“That’s not shady.” She whispers to Garrett and he snorts in agreement. 

When they approach the door, Garrett lets go of Nott’s hand to knock on it three time, pauses, then knocks two more times. A slit in the door slides open and a pair of eyes look at them, Nott hides behind her cloak a bit more under the gaze, suddenly aware of how she didn’t bring her scarf. Garrett pulls up the sleeve of his shirt past his elbow to show an intricate tattoo on the inside of his elbow. Nott only gets a quick glance though before the person behind the door is talking in a different language.

“ _ And her _ .” He asks pointing his eyes at the goblin girl. 

“ _ A friend. She won’t be any trouble _ .” Garrett responds in rough tone looking back at Nott real quick. 

There’s a grumble and then the door opens letting the two in, Nott follows closely behind as their lead down a set of stairs. The noise of rowdiness grows as they make to a door at the bottom of the stairs, Garrett opens it and the noise grows. Nott is met with the sound of laughter, yelling and shouting, things smashing, and talking, the scene matches the sounds, different things happening at different times. She can only stare in wonder as she follows Garrett to the bar, he orders two ales and gives her one. 

The more Nott looks though, the more she notices how many stares she’s catching as her eyes look around. She feels herself shrinking in on herself more and more, feeling heavy stares on her body and face. 

Nott tugs on Garrett’s sleeve. “This was a bad idea, people are looking.” Her eyes are wide as she looks up at him. “Their not going to kill me are they?” She asks quickly. 

Garrett takes the hand hanging on his sleeve in his own, hiding it somewhat behind her cloak. “Don’t worry, they don’t mind goblins. They’re more concerned about how you got in here.”

“Oh.” She says, feeling a bit better, but not entirely still feeling the eyes on her. 

“Besides.” Garrett shrugs with a smile. “They’d have to get past me first.” He puffs out his chest and it makes Nott snort. 

“Sure.”

From there they enjoy their drinks, Nott, as usual finishes her first and then orders another one. Garrett walks around the different table to point out people and what they do, and how he helps them, whether by stealing a product for them, or smuggling something illegal over a border for them. As they walk Garrett makes sure to keep a hand on the small of her back at all times, mostly for her comfort and to let her know he’s there. 

“Garrett!” They both turn at the sound of the halflings name, watching as a gnome with a wide smile approaches him, Garrett gains his own smile.

“Stephen!” He calls back enthusiastically as they meet in the middle. 

Nott’s back feels cold as she watches the two clap their hands together to bring each other into a hug.

“How’ve you been? I haven’t you in a while.” Stephen speaks in a heavy irish accent. 

“I’ve been great, I just had a situation at home.” Garrett explains simply with a smile. 

“Ah I see.” His gaze goes from Garrett and wonders over to Nott’s and his eyes instantly light up brighter. “And who’s this?”

“Oh!” Garrett looks back at Nott almost as if he had forgotten she was there. “This is the situation.” He teases and Nott sticks her tongue out at him. 

“Nice to meet you, Stephen.” He introduces himself as he reaches his hand put for a handshake, never taking his eyes off of her. 

She looks down at his hand before reaching forward, taking his hand in a firm handshake. “And you, I’m Nott.”

Stephen smiles and before Nott can pull her hand away, he brings her hand closer to himself, he bends his head down and kisses her hand. Nott looks at him confused, a light blush spreading on her cheeks. Garrett watches the action, feeling a quick sting of jealousy poke at him, but he brushes it off, thinking it’s just Stephen being Stephen. 

In thieves’ cant, Stephen speaks directly to Garrett. “ _ Garrett you selfish bastard, where’d you find a gal like this _ ?”

“ _ In the forest _ .” He smiles before switching back to common. “Nott’s not so used to such friendly behavior, so she’s not so big on touching.” Garrett refuses the urge to pull her to him. 

“Ah that’s fine! I’m sure we can find ways to have fun without being physical! Need another drink?” Stephen asks her, turning to face her fully. 

Nott looks between the two and Garrett nods at her, she focuses on Stephen. “Sure.” She says a bit timidly with a shrug of her shoulder. 

“Excellent.” He cheers, then directs himself at Garrett again. “You go get caught up and I’ll keep Nott company, give us time to get acquainted!” Stephen calls over his shoulder as he disappears in the crowd with Nott. 

Garrett does meet some friends he hadn’t seen in the past week or two, it was nice to catch up on what had been happening with out him. Everyone was very convinced that he had been killed on a run or something, but thought better of it, knowing they would’ve gotten a body or something.

“So where’d you get the goblin?” One of his friends, Sam, asks nonchalantly, he’s caught a little off guard by the question, but should have known the question would come up eventually. 

He decides on simple answers. “She’s a friend of mine.” 

“Yeah, but where’d you find her? We don’t do business with the nearest clan at least to my knowledge.” Another one of his friends, this one is Terra, speaks up. 

“She was bleeding out in the forest when I found her.” Garrett takes a drink of  his ale. 

“You better hope they don’t come looking for her.” 

“From what she’s told me they won't be they don't exactly get along.” He looks around the room as they talk and his gaze lands on Nott, he keeps his stare on her. 

Almost as if she can sense him, Nott turns around and catches his eye, they make eye contact. Garrett smiles and waves at her, she smiles back giving a small wave.

Terra tsks before talking. “He’s an odd one, getting excited about that goblin.” Garrett turns to look at them.

“Her name's Nott, not “that goblin”, and what the hell is that supposed to mean?” His voice comes out more defensive than he meant for it too.

She puts her hands up in surrender. “Hey now, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Goblins, but I’m just saying have you ever noticed how Stephen goes after the lady goblins whenever we’re doing business with them?”

“Oh yeah he does!” Sam speaks up. “But he barely gets a sentence in before their chasing him off.”

“Nott seems nice though.”

“Maybe he’ll get lucky this time.”

Garrett’s friends laugh around him and Garrett can only make a face before he excuses himself to sit at the bar and orders himself another drink. He had never noticed that Stephen had a particular thing for goblins, but the more he thought on it the more he noticed that he was always talking to the woman in the clans they were trading with. The image of Stephen kissing Notts hand flashes in his mind and another pang of jealousy hits him. It worsens when he looks up and sees them across the way talking, he watches as Stephen reaches out and wraps an arm around Nott’s waist, Nott smacks away his hand in an instant and Garrett smiles at that , he can hear her growl a “What’re you doing?” from where he was. Garrett feels himself relax a bit, he shouldn’t worry about Nott too much, she can take care of herself. He watches as she walks over to the bar and takes a seat next to him. 

“Hey there.” He smiles at her. 

“Hey.” She responds giving him a small smile. “Stephen is very, friendly.”

“Yes he is.” Garrett bites out taking a final drink. “I know you’re worried about my parents finding out, but do you care if these people find out?”

Nott stares at him for a moment. “Why?” She looks him over suspiciously. 

“Well,” he suddenly feels very flustered, “what if someone want to make a move on you?”

Nott lets out a quick laugh of disbelief. “Who would want to make a move on me?” She takes a swig of her drink. 

Garrett merely blinks at her. “Are you kidding me? Stephen was just all over you.” His voice is hushed as he speaks. 

“What?” Nott says shocked. “No he wasn’t, he was just being friendly for some reason.”

“Nott.” Garrett leans in closer. “He likes goblins, he thinks they’re very attractive.” He explains carefully. 

Nott looks back where Stephen was, he waves at her and she quickly turns back around. “Oh.” Heat crawls onto her face again. 

“Are you blushing?” Garrett asks amused. 

“No!” Nott snaps at him. 

“You are!” He laughs. “Cause Stephen has a crush on you.” Garrett teases her, nudging her a bit. 

“Does not!” She brings her hood over her head more securely, embarrassed.

“He does to!” Garrett can’t help but to laugh at her reaction. “When you guys get married can I be your mistress?”

Nott pushes him away from her. “Stop that.” Her own smile crawling onto her face. “Come on, let’s go.” She hops off the stoll she was on. 

Garrett goes to follow after her, but grabs her hand. “Hey wait.” Nott stops and turns around, he pulls her close until their toe to toe. “Can I kiss you?”

“Here?” Nott asks as she looks around. “Can’t you wait until we’re outside?”

“Nope.” Garrett smiles wide. “I want everyone here to know your with me.”

Nott think a moment staring at him very intently. “Your a weird dude, you know that?” She says as she begins to tilt her head and go onto her toes. 

“I know.” Garrett smiles down at her before grabbing the side of her face and kissing her. 

It’s quick and sweet.

“Alright, can we go now?” Nott asks a bit breathlessly. 

“Absolutely.” Garrett says and Nott drags him by the hand towards the door. 

Garrett hears uproarious laughter and turns to see his group of friends laughing and patting Stephen on the back and Garrett can’t help but feel satisfaction in his mildly horrified look on his face.  He smiles to himself and follows Nott out. 

He hadn’t realized how long they had been gone, until they made it outside and the sun was setting, by the time they make it home it’s completely dark out. Eoelle is waiting for them when they get in, she begins to scold them like their a couple of teenagers, talking about irresponsible it was for them to be out that late, and how worried she was. Garrett snorts under his breath at the situation and Nott elbows him in the ribs, he almost full blown laughs when Eoelle sends them to bed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey thanks for reading!  
> So i was just wondering how y'all would feel about reading smut for this?  
> I mean I kinda wrote some for next chapter anyway, but just getting your opinions on further progressions in their relationship.


	6. Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nott and Garrett get busy, and Nott's an adult god damn it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this as it came to me, let it take it's own course and such, but I also wanted it to show boundaries and how Garrett would never push for more.  
> This isn't going to be a regular thing, but I do think I may write their first time or something in the future because I'm not gonna lie, it is something I want to write.  
> But this still has a plot and a love story and back story I'm trying to tell, and that's the whole point of this.  
> And I think hearing Nott's canon backstory was amazing and if anything helped me a bit and kind of was the same thing, but entirely different at the same time.  
> Anyway, here's some Nott becoming less of a virgin.  
> you've been warned

Nott can hear Eoelle still scolding Garrett in halfling, she thinks it’s funny and has to hold back her own laughter. Their night was interesting and Nott actually liked going to the secret hideout. It was nice seeing a part of Garrett’s life that not a lot of people got to. 

Then again there was the part of it that made her think. According to Garrett, Stephen has a thing for goblins, which is the weirdest thing that Nott had ever heard. The fact that anyone could be attracted to a goblin, especially Nott herself, was completely puzzling. But Garrett thought she was attractive, he’s told her multiple times, that he thought she was beautiful, and when he says it, she almost believes it. That someone like Garrett, who’s actually Beautiful and handsome and so fantastic, thought something like her was everything but ugly. It warmed her entire body and she could feel the words resonate with her. That and he was so patient with her. 

Nott has never been with anyone before and her experience was extremely low and Garrett has been the only person she’s ever been kissed and touched by. Garrett had told her that they would take this step by step, that he would wait for her, even though the first time they had kissed she had been ready to take the final leap. But she was glad that he had told her that because she did want to experience things one step at a time, she wanted to learn and feel and know what everything was like. She could tell that Garrett was experienced, mostly due to his age, but the way he kissed her was like he had done it a thousand times, and his touch was gentle and caring. It made her want more. Nott wanted more from Garrett, she wasn’t sure how much, but she just knew she needed more right now. 

There’s a light knock at the door and she jumps a bit as it brings her out of her thoughts, Nott shakes out her nerves real quick before she goes over to the door and opens it. Garrett is already smiling when she opens the door, but it falters a bit when he notices how Nott is shifting from foot to foot. Nott gives a quick smile back before walking back towards the bed, Garrett , shutting and locking the door as usual, but the sound makes her visually jump anyway and her heart races. 

Instead of laying down, Nott sits at the head of the bed, Garrett follows and sits on his knees across from her. 

“What’s going on?” He asks a bit hesitant, almost as if she were a spooked horse. 

“I wanted to try something.” Her voice is rough and quiet as she speaks, “Can you try and go along with it?” Nott asks. 

Garrett smiles. “I can sure try.” He says trying to lighten the tense mood.

Nott only gives him a sideways look before shaking her head a little at his attempt, a small smile on her face. Slowly Nott moves from her spot, Garrett watches a bit stunned as Nott crawls over to him and into his lap, straddling him, then takes hold of his shoulders. 

“Is this ok?” She asks in a quiet whisper, looking down at him. 

“Y-Yes.” Garrett winces internally at his stuttering. “Are you ok with this?” He asks quickly looking up at her with wide eyes. 

Nott only nods as she leans down and gives Garrett a kiss, it’s sweet like the one in the hidden tavern, but slow as they move their lips together. She pulls back, dragging their lips away from each other, to look at Garrett’s face, his eyes are closed and breathing is a bit heavy. 

“Are you alright?” Nott asks and Garrett’s eyes slowly open. 

He nods and move back to kiss her, after that kiss Nott moves to the corner of his mouth, to kiss along his stubbled jawline, then down his neck. She wants to bite and nip at his neck like he did with hers, but she fears she might hurt him. Instead she gives a little lick and sucks where his neck meets his shoulder, the mark won’t be big, but it’ll be enough for her.

“You can touch me.” Nott whispers against his neck and gives the forming bruise a kiss. 

Nott is wearing a long sleeve dress that goes above her knees, when she moved to Garrett’s lap, her dress went up to the top of her thighs. Garrett’s hands land on her legs and slowly he moves his hands up until he reaches her small clothes, then back down, repeating the action slowly over and over again, feeling at the skin there.

“Nott.” He can hear how rough his voice sounds as he tries to catch her attention. 

Nott hums against his neck and then gently scrapes her teeth along his adams apple. 

Garrett gasps at the feeling. “How far are we going?”

She’s still for a moment. “I don’t know.” Nott looks up from his neck. “I just know I need you right now.” 

“Alright.” He coughs a bit, trying to even out his voice. “Then you just let me know when to stop and I will. Ok?” Nott nods again.

They keep eye contact as Garrett drags his right hand up her leg and under her dress, moving past her small clothes, up her stomach and to her chest, gently cupping one of her breasts. Nott has to close her eyes at the feeling of someone touching her  _ there _ , she lets out a shaky sigh. 

Garrett swallows. “Is this ok?”

Nott nods quickly. “Yes, yes.”

Nott is quick to bend down and capture his lips against hers, she then slips her tongue into his mouth. Garrett is just as quick to run his tongue along her sharp teeth, careful not to cut himself, the roof of her mouth, and against her own tongue. They only pull apart for a moment to catch their breath before their back together again, their actions becoming faster, more frantic for each other.

Garrett covers Nott breast with his palm as they kiss. Nott in short, is flat chested, and it was not something she often worried about, but now it was something that she couldn’t ignore, wondering if Garrett was as aware of her small breasts as she was. Instead of commenting or pulling away though he gives her breast a squeeze, Nott sighs into Garrett’s mouth almost involuntarily as she feels herself arch into his touch. The small warmth that’s deep down in her belly beginning to rise and spread and grow, turning into a sweltering heat deep in her core.

As she shifts in his lap and there’s a delicious friction against her private as she brushes against Garrett’s groin. Nott blushes to herself when she feels the bulge beneath her, but it doesn’t stop her, especially when Garrett groans into her mouth when she movies. He takes Nott’s nipple between his fingers and gives it a light pinch before sliding over it with thumb. Nott moves away from his mouth to pant for air, letting out quiet noises as he plays with the one breast and moves over to the right one. She moves her hips against his again as he moves down to her neck, kissing his way down as she tilts her head to the side allowing him more access. Garrett knows he’s found her sweet spot when Nott grips his hair and gasps his name. 

Once he’s found it, he begins to suck at the area with great care, and when he’s done, he licks to soothe the bruise that was slowly forming. Nott holds tight to Garrett the entire time, having to muffle her pleasured sighs and moans into his shoulder, because it was late and she didn't want to wake anyone, that and on occasion she brought herself forward to brush against Garrett, which made him bite down on the spot once or twice. Nott begins to ball up the back of Garrett’s shirt as she dives back in for an open mouthed kiss. 

With one hand up Nott’s dress and the other still on her thigh, Garrett slowly moves them back against the bed until Nott’s laying down with him on top. He doesn’t let go of Nott’s left leg and holds it to his hip as the other stays bent on his other side. Nott brings Garrett’s shirt up to his shoulders, she starts to bring her hands down his back gently scraping her nails against him as she traveled down his back and around to bring her hands up his abdomen and chest. Garrett makes a noise as she trail’s her nails back down his chest. Nott enjoys the feeling of smooth skin underneath her hands, she never wants to stop touching him, or for him to stop caressing her. 

The leg that Garrett holds to hip wraps around his waist, her dress up past her belly now, Garrett runs his hand along her leg going up and stopping at her small clothes toying with the band at the top but making no moves to pull it down. Nott moves her hips up against his, missing the friction from before. Garrett gets the idea right away and in an instant is moving against her, he makes sure to go slow, because this Nott’s first time with all of this and he doesn’t want to suddenly go into a frenzy of pleasure and have her to mortified to tell him to stop. Needing air again, Garrett moves away from her mouth to lean his head against the pillow next to her head. Nott cherishes the pants for air Garret makes next to her ear, memorizes them to make sure she can never forget them. The feeling of Garrett’s erection moving against her most sensitive part at a slow pace was overwhelming at the same time it was underwhelming. 

Overwhelming because they were just making out and now they were here, she had never been in this position before and she didn't what to do, it was very nerve wracking  and honestly a little scary. Underwhelming because she knew there was more she could be doing, that she craved more, that every part of her physical being was telling her there was too much clothing and too little touching. All in all, while she was having an amazing time, it suddenly felt like too much too fast. Nott moves her hands to Garrett’s chest and flattens her palms on him before giving him just a little push, just to give her some space to think, to look at him. He stops all actions immediately and let’s go of her breast and instead lays his hand on her stomach. There’s a part of her that wants his hand to go lower, to touch her, but again, it was too soon, a bit scary to think about. Their silent as they try to slow their racing hearts and calm their breathing. 

“Garrett.” Nott speaks in a hushed tone, the blood rushing through her ears is deafening, making her speak quietly. 

“Yes.” His voice is still hoarse and sounds wrecked, Nott shivers a bit, but doesn’t say anything too afraid he might be mad. “Do you want to stop?” Garrett asks.

She nods before adding quickly. “If you don’t mind.” 

Garrett gives a little laugh. “Of course I don’t.” He gives her a reassuring smile before detangling himself from her and moving her night dress back down, so it lays flat over her knees. “It’s not about me. The only thing I want is for you to be comfortable and enjoy yourself.” He pulls his shirt down before leaning over to pull a piece of hair away from her forehead and kisses it. 

“Thank you.” Nott gives him a small smile before cuddling into his side, letting sleep take her. 

The next morning is fairly rough. She wakes up and it’s too hot so she kicks off the covers, but even after she does that it still feels like there’s an enormous blanket on her. Nott opens her eyes, squinting a bit at the summer sun coming in through the window, after her vision focuses she realizes she’s not alone. Nott smiles a bit at Garrett’s sleeping figure, his arm wrapped around her waist tightly and one leg draped over both of hers. It’s an endearing image but right now Nott feels as though she’s burning up, turning onto her side to face Garrett, Nott gives his shoulder a little shake. 

“Garrett.” She whispers, he mumbles something, she shakes him again. “Garrett wake up.” When he merely grips her tighter, Nott let’s out a breath and gives him a little push. 

That wakes him up, Garrett startles awake at the feeling of nearly being pushed off his bed, almost taking Nott down with him. Sitting up now Garrett is wide awake as he looks from the edge of the bed to Nott who is staring up at him her face a little annoyed. 

“Finally.” Nott says slipping her legs out from under Garrett’s. “I thought I’d be stuck sweating under you for another hour.” 

Garrett runs a hand through his hair, trying to make sense of what was going on in the early morning, but at the moment his mouth is working faster than his brain. 

“I didn’t hear you complaining last night.” He manages to yawn as he stretches his arms out. His voice is rough like last night, Nott has to push those thoughts away.

Nott looks over at him with a glare and a blush before lightly smacking his arm. “Shut up ass hole.” She hops out of bed, stretching her arms above her head making her way over to the window. 

Garrett watches as Nott opens the window to get in some fresh air, the sun comes in through the window and hits Nott just right making her hair look a brighter green than usual and make her eyes shine. Garrett thinks she’s magnificent. Nott looks back at him and sees that he’s smiling at her. 

“What?” She asks green tint growing on her face under his stare. 

Nott turns back around and goes through some drawers to avoid looking at him in the early morning. He had never been able to stay this long before, they were never able to wake up next to each other and just look at each other. Nott couldn’t handle the early morning voice, his messy hair and lazy look, it was too much to handle in the morning. She finds some string in one of Garrett’s drawers, after cutting off a long enough piece with her teeth, Nott begins to tie up her hair. Once her hair is away from her neck and face she turns back around to see Garrett still looking at her with that stupid smile on his face. 

“Good morning.” Garrett’s rough voice comes through, though still has his gentle tone. 

Nott can’t help the smile that crawls onto her face. “Good morning.” She walks towards the bed, crawling on to sit in front of Garrett. 

Once she’s there he brings her into an embrace, she gives him a quick peck on the lips, the domestic action fills her heart with warmth as they sit there together. 

“It’s nice seeing you in the morning.” Garrett says as he runs his fingers up and down Notts arm gently. 

“It's nice seeing you too.” She smiles up at him, her smile grows though when she finally notices the hickey she had left from the night before. “And this.” Nott reaches towards his neck, touching and tracing the bruise, Garrett hisses.

He takes her wrist in his hand before bringing the fingers to his lips to kiss them. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

“And I haven’t even tried yet.” Nott smirks a bit, Garrett gives a little laugh, he looks down at her neck. 

“Looks like I won though.” He moves Notts ponytail so it’s behind her back to look at the bruise. “The one you have is darker and bigger.” Garrett laughs again as Nott narrows her eyes at him. 

“Well first of all, it’s not a competition.” She starts to count off on her fingers. “Second you have a big mouth and third of all,” Nott says as she turns around to face him fully, wrapping her arms around his neck, “I just need more practice.” She whispers. 

“I can agree to that.” Garrett whispers back with his own smirk. 

They lean into kiss but are cut off by a jiggle of the handle and knock at the door, Notts heart races as her head snaps to look from Garrett to the door. 

“Nott?” Eoelle’s voice calls from the other side of the door. “Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine!” Nott calls as she hops off the bed looking at Garrett. 

Frantically Nott silently rushes Garrett off the bed as she heads towards the door to open it. Garrett stands for a panicked second before dropping to the floor and getting under the bed as Nott unlocks and opens the door. Nott pulls her ponytail to the side, hopefully covering the hickey on her neck. 

“Hello, Good morning.” Nott says quickly after opening the door. 

“Good morning.” Eoelle greets with a warm smile. “I thought I heard you talking to someone, I thought it might be Rosey.” She goes to look past Nott and into the room, but Nott closes the door a bit so there’s only enough room for her small body to be seen. 

“No, I was just talking to myself.” She squeaks smiling hoping that Eoelle would go away soon, not that she doesn’t enjoy her company. 

“Oh, I see.” Eoelle’s brows scrunch a bit, before shaking it off. “I was always wondering if you’ve seen Garrett,” Nott freezes at that, “he isn’t on the couch and it looks like he barely slept in it.”

“Hm.” Nott hums in mock thought. “I haven’t, I just woke up.” She gives a forced laugh, Eoelle looks at her strangely. 

“Are you sure your ok?” Eoelle asks bringing a hand up to her forehead. “Your burning up, this heat is going to put you into a stroke.” She tasks before pushing her way into the room. 

Nott tries to protest, say she’s fine, but Eoelle’s already in the room dunking a hand towel into water and pressing to Notts head. 

“I’m really fine Eoelle.” The woman takes Notts hand to hold the cloth to her head, “I can get ready by myself.” Eoelle begins to lay out clothes on the bed that we’re on her arm before. 

“I had to come by anyway, you were running low on clothes weren’t you?” Eoelle asks but doesn’t wait for Nott to respond busying about. 

Nott has been running low on clothes, but for the past weeks Eoelle has been giving Nott some of Garrett’s old clothes when he was a bit younger. Eoelle comes over and begins to lift the bottom of Notts dress, she holds it down quickly, snarling a bit. 

“What’re you doing?” Nott asks biting. 

“Oh come now Nott, you’ve got nothing to hide I haven’t seen before.” Eoelle laughs a bit brushing off Notts hands. “You do know I have to dress Rosey don’t you?” A snicker comes from under the bed and Nott coughs to cover it up. 

To say she’s a bit offended is an understatement, she’s not a child, she doesn’t need to be dressed and taken care of like one. Nott takes off her own dress, she wants to glare at Eoelle but can’t find it in herself to do it. Instead she begins to dress herself with bitter movements, always making sure to keep her hickey out of sight of the woman. Eoelle hands her the clothing with a smile, Nott finishes, the shirt is a bit small length wise, but fits other wise along with the pants. 

“Is the fit good?” She asks, Nott nods smiling a bit at the thought of wearing Garrett's old clothes. “Good, I knew Rosey’s clothes would fit you like a glove.” Eoelle smiles before leaving the room. 

Nott burns with embarrassment, Rosey’s clothes. She fits into Rosey’s clothes. Rosey was a child, Nott was a grown adult, she shouldn’t be wearing kids clothes. Garrett appears on the other side of the bed a wide grin on his face. 

“You gotta admit that’s at least a little bit funny.” He says immediately wanting to laugh, Nott doesn’t hesitate throwing a glare his way. 

“Fuck off.” She growls before leaving the room slamming the door shut on her way out. 

Nott was not a child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Comments greatly appreciated and always read!


	7. Pierce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nott wants something different

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
> Sorry for the wait I've just been sooooo busy  
> Hopefully a new chapter soon!  
> Not edited!

It really shouldn’t affect her the way it is, but Nott can’t help the burning rage and embarrassment that runs through her body after Eoelle leaves, Garrett not in the least bit helping. Nott was always trying to prove that she’s older, more mature, worth something, and then Eoelle makes it all come down with one action. The night before made Nott feel as if she was floating and happy and mature, it wasn’t just that she was with Garrett so intimately, but that they were doing their own thing, that she was going out and doing things that made her happy. Eoelle thought she was doing what was best for her, she understood that, but she wanted to be treated like a the woman she was. As an adult she wants to do as she pleases, and she does and has, and she has the god damn hickey to prove it. 

After the door slams Garrett winces at the sound. He knows he shouldn’t be laughing at the situation, Nott’s always telling him about the dysphoria she has about herself. He doesn’t want that for her, he wants her to be happy and love herself, but sometimes he forgets himself and those are the moments he hates. Garrett sighs to himself before walking over to his dresser and getting changed, he jumps out the window and comes around to the front door. 

“Good morning all!” Garrett greets with arms wide open to see everyone sitting at the dining room table. 

“Now where have you been?” Eoelle demands while wiping Rosie’s face clean of the syrup on her face. 

“I went into work early, I couldn’t sleep.” Garrett explains. 

Nott and Arric scoff, but for two very different reasons. 

“When did you change your clothes?” His mother furrows her brow in confusion looking him over. 

Nott looks down at the table refusing to meet anyone’s eyes, Garrett freezes for a moment but continues on smoothly. 

“I just snuck into the room while she was sleeping and got changed real quick.” He sits himself next to Nott at the table, she looks up at him.

Eoelle straightens up immediately looking between the two, her face gains a red tint. 

“You can’t just enter a young girls room while she’s  _ sleeping _ and just  _ change _ .” Garrett finds great amusement from how flustered his mother is. 

“And why not? It was my room first.” Garrett points out rather bitterly as Nott pouts bitterly at being called a young girl. 

“Because! It’s just not appropriate for two people of the opposite sex to be alone in a room together, who aren’t even married.” She explains in a hushed tone, appalled to even be talking about it. 

“She was sleeping!” Garrett almost yells frustradely, though his smile doesn’t leave his face. “It’s not like I was going in there to seduce her.”

Nott’s entire face breaks out in a deep green blush as she kicks Garrett under the table, basically telling him to shut up, but he merely winces and moves on. 

“Garrett!” Eoelle shouts. 

“What? It’s true! I’d only do that if she gave me permission.” He runs a hand through his hair before getting out of his seat to kneel next Nott spreading his arms out wide in declaration. “Nott will you let me seduce you?” Garrett asks with such dramatic flare that the goblin girl nearly laughs.

She doesn’t even get to react though because soon Eoelle is right next to Garrett and pulling him up by his ear. 

“Now that is enough, no more terrorizing Nott.” Garrett can’t get in another word before Eoelle is dragging him away and into the kitchen. 

“Daddy, what do sex and seduce mean?” Rosie asks innocently staring up at Arric with big eyes. He can’t say anything too flustered from the six year olds question.

Garrett spends the rest of the morning doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen while Nott tries to fight away her green cheeks. 

Nott stays outside with Eoelle and Rosie for the rest of the morning, hanging up laundry and taking it down. It’s boring, but she enjoys playing with Rosie when Eoelle’s not looking. Once their done Nott goes into the house in search of Garrett, she finds him reading in bed in her bedroom, his bedroom,  _ their _ bedroom. Nott feels her heart flutter but she pushes it away for now thinking it’s too soon to think such things. 

“Hello lovely.” Garrett greets as he looks up from his book to see Nott closing the door. 

“Hi.” She greets back and crawls into the bed to curl up next to him. “I want to get piercings.”

Garrett looks down at her with a raised brow while Nott looks up at him with her best impression of Rosie when she wants more dessert. 

“Why?” Garrett asks a mix of confusion and amusement in his voice as he looks down at Nott.

“I want something different, I look so plain and childish.” Her lips curls in distaste as she looks down at Rosie's clothes. 

“I don’t necessarily agree, but I can take you to get it done.” He shrugs marking his page before closing the book. “Your sure you want piercings though?”

“A hundred percent.” She nods. 

“Alright.” Garrett smiles down at her, before straightening up. “Let me just go as-” Nott catches his arm before he can get out of the bed. 

“No!” Nott nearly screeches, tugging him back down to sit. “I just want to,we’re both adults, let’s just go.”

Garrett scrunches his brows at her. “Yeah,” he says slowly, “but if you just disappear again,” he sentence trails as he we waves his hand in a continuing gesture. 

“Leave a note, I don’t care, I just want to do something where I get to decide to leave.” She says frantically. 

“Nott,” he purses his lips as he sighs through his nose.

“Please?” Nott grabs his hand and lifts it to her cheek. “Please?” She asks again when he says nothing, kissing his palm and looking up at him with big eyes. 

“Fine, I’ll leave a note.” Garrett finally relents, weak for the goblin girls big yellow eyes.

Nott smiles wide with sharp teeth before reaching forward and giving him a quick kiss. “Let’s go.” She says excitedly before getting off the bed and towards the bed, taking the cloak with her. 

Garrett and Nott leave without much problem, Arric was off at work, and Eoelle was cleaning Rosie’s room while she took a small nap. They left behind a simple note on the dining room table.  _ Went out with Nott, be back later. _

Their walking when Nott suddenly gasps. “I don’t have any coin.” She looks up at Garrett. 

“Don’t worry,” Garrett shrugs and continues walking. “The hideout does them for free.”

“Oh.” Nott says simply.

“But we should work on your coin problem.” He thinks for a moment. “Can’t get a job.” He says out loud, he rubs his knuckles along his light stubble in thought. “And I’m not sure my parents would give you an allowance.” Garrett add’s with a teasing lilt in his voice, looking at her for a reaction, a smile on his face. 

Nott nudges him in the side hard with her elbow, he laughs anyway. “Would you knock it off? I get enough of that as it is.” Nott then looks up at him with a scrunched face and narrowed eyes. “I don’t need it from you too.”

“Oh come on, it’s funny.” Garrett’s wide smile doesn’t falter under Nott’s glare. 

“No it’s not, it’s degrading and embarrassing. I’m just as much of an adult as you are, but here I am wearing Rosie's clothes.” Nott moves her cloak to the side to show off her outfit, her cloak falling down as well.

“Ok, I see your point.” He nods puts a hand in one of his pockets to fiddle with something. “ _ But  _ Rosie’s clothes look entirely different on you from how they look on her.” He looks down at her as she reaches behind her to put her hood back up, exposing a sliver of her stomach. “For example.” He says with a mischievous smirk. “Any time you raise your arms just a bit I can see your stomach.” And then he tickles at the small bit of skin. 

Nott bats his hand away, blushing, once his hands are away she closes up her cloak and lifts her hood up quickly. 

“That and,” Garrett continues, “think of it from my perspective.” She looks up at that with an inquisitive eye. “My mom treats you like a kid in the day time and at night we’re sharing a bed and making out.”

Nott crosses her arms and mumbles out. “Not all the time.”

“It’s pretty fucking funny if you ask me.” Garrett ends his explanation with a charming smile, that Nott really wished she hated.

“Yeah for you, but that's also what makes it so frustrating.” Nott growls out, her teeth gnashing together a bit. 

“We could always just tell them, they may stop thinking that way if they knew.” He suggests softly.

It’s quiet. Nott doesn’t say anything and neither does Garrett as they walk. The sound of the summer breeze and their footsteps fill the air as Nott thinks. 

“I-” She cuts the silence. “I just don’t think it’s the best idea right now.” Nott nibbles on her bottom lip nervously. “I need more time.” She nearly whispers.

Garrett only sighs. “Ok, I’ll give you more time.” Nott looks up at him, he keeps looking forward. 

She knows he must be frustrated, but she’s not ready for the judgement and all the eyes on her. For now she ignores it. 

They make it to the hideout in silence, it’s a bit tense, not overwhelming but still there. Getting inside goes without issue, once their inside Garrett leads Nott to a smaller room, Nott fortunately doesn’t catch sight of Stephen in the small area. Garrett explains the piercings to her, telling her about the different ones she could get as they look at the rings and studs. Nott begins to rub her fingers together at the sight of all the shining jewelry, a sudden urge to reach out and snatch it and put it in her pocket, instead she takes Garrett’s hand in her own. Her heart races at the thought of just having the jewelry, let alone somewhere where anyone could see. Garrett tells her to choose whatever she wants and he’ll be waiting for her at the bar with a drink. Once alone with her options, Nott decides on “golden” stud on her left ear, a ring on her right ear, a nose ring and a bellybutton ring. She wouldn’t say it didn’t hurt, because it did, but getting piercings seemed like a piece of cake after being nearly beaten to death. Nott thanks the gnome woman who had done her piercings and left the room, heading over to the bar where Garrett sat with a tankard in hand and a full one next to him, she taps his shoulder. 

Garrett feels someone tap on his shoulder, he turns around in his seat to see Nott standing before him, but Nott with piercings, he's a bit taken back by her sudden appearance. Her ears are flushed with being stuck with needles and then he looks down from her ears to the septum piercing she has, a small golden ring going through the middle of her nose. It’s a lot to take in at the moment, that along with her bright smile. 

“Oh, wow.” He says and nothing else, just staring at her. 

Nott’s smile falters under Garrett’s stare and lack of talking. “You don’t like it?” She asks softly.

“No, no!” He hops off his seat and talks quickly. “I mean yes, I like it, it looks nice on you, it’s just different.” Garrett explains quickly putting out his hands. 

“Good different?” Nott asks.

“Good different.” He reaffirms with a smile.

A small smile spreads on her face. “Good or else I would have had to leave you, cause I like it.” She teases and sits on the stool next where Garrett was sitting. 

“Your staying at my house.” Garrett says with a chuckle. 

“Yeah but your mom likes me more.” She says pointedly.

“You’ve got me there.” He sits on his seat and hands Nott her drink. “C’mon lets get drunk.” Nott nods in agreement before downing her tankard.

They start drinking like their lives depend on it, their talking is loud and their laughter is uproarious. Hours pass by without them evening noticing, Garrett and Nott lean close together, Garrett wraps his arm around her waist at one point when she almost fell off her chair and hasn’t moved his hand away since. Wanting to be able to touch her and keep her close in a domestic way, showing others that she was with him and no else. Allowed him to be possessive without overpowering her. 

It’s almost dusk when they make their way back to the house, holding onto each other as they stumble through the woods. Garrett can just barely get the key on the front door, Nott giggling while she hangs off his side, he keeps his hand on her waist as they walk in the door. They come in and are greeted by the sight of Arric sitting on the couch with Rosie reading together and Eoelle pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. Garrett’s family look up at the two in their drunken state, Eoelle’s eyes go wide and her face goes completely red. 

“Rosey go to your room.” She says without looking away from the two. 

Rosey says nothing and quickly rushes off knowing her mother wasn’t in the mood to argue with. Eoelle looks at Garrett who tries to stand up straight but can’t seem to holding on to Nott’s waist tightly. Then at Nott whos wrapped her hands around Garretts neck, clinging to his side with a lazy grin.

“Where have you two been?” Eoelle asks through gritted teeth.

“I left a note.” Garrett hiccups. 

“What happened to Nott?!?”She throws her arm in the goblins direction noticing all the piercings on her face. 

“She got some piercings and we got some drinks. No big deal.” He shrugs, slurring through his sentence a bit. 

“Your both drunk?!?” She yells incredulously. 

“Juss a little bit.” Garrett squeezes his finger tips together and squints at them with a smile. 

“Oh my gods! Where do I even begin with you two!” Eoelle’s temper is through the roof as she scolds the two.

“Eoelle-” Arric sighs trying to interrupt but she puts up a hand to stop him.

“No. Nott go to your room, I have to speak to Garrett.” She keeps her heated gaze on her son.

“No.” Nott speaks for the first time since they walked through the door.

“What?” Eoelle asks surprised.

“No I’m not gonna. I like my piercings and I love to drink, so I’m not gonna head to bed just cause you say so.” Nott lets go of Garrett and nearly falls, but he catches her, keeping her upright. “I’m a grown ass woman.” She speaks defiantly with a final tone. 

Eoelle gasps at Nott’s language. Everyone freezes at Nott’s sudden outburst, all very shocked.

“I’m just gonna take her to bed.” Garrett puts his body up against her side to move her toward the bedroom. “Let her sleep it off.” He explains. 

“I don’t need to sleep off shit!” Nott yells up at him.

“She’ll be better in the morning!” He yells to his parents as he pushes Nott through the door.

Nott pops out the doorway to yell. “Good night!” Garrett then pulls her fully into the room before closing the door behind him. 

“Oh my god.” He stifles his laughter as he leans against the door. “Nott your insane.” 

“ _ Damn right I am _ .” Nott growls in goblin before grabbing Garrett by his shirt and pulling him in.

Nott pushes Garrett against the wall as soon as their lips connect making him gasp, which she takes the opportunity to slip her tongue inside his mouth. The kiss rough and sloppy, rough because Nott is going into this kiss with no worries about her teeth or how tightly she clutches Garrett, sloppy because they are both extremely intoxicated and don’t have the exact coordination for this activity at the moment. Doesn’t mean that their not enjoying it though.

“Holy Shit.” Garrett breaths out when Nott pulls away slightly for air.

She smirks up at him and pulls him back down into the very heated kiss, keeping her frip tight on his shirt. Garrett takes Nott’s wrists in his hands and pulls them away, Nott whines when her lips are pulled away from his, it takes all his strength not to pull her back in. 

“We’re both very drunk.” He whispers to her.

Nott merely shrugs it off. “Yeah.” She goes on her toes and kisses him again.

She does something wicked with her tongue that makes Garrett moan and wonder where she even learned to do that. He has to move away and squeeze his eyes shut as he bangs his head against the door. Garrett would love nothing more than to do what Nott wants and give in, but he still doesn’t feel like their in a spot where they could just do whatever when their drunk. They just have to hang on a little bit longer, when their not completely hammered.

“Verrrry drunk.” Garrett tries to elaborate.

“Mmm.” Nott hums as she kisses at his neck, Garrett can’t help himself as he leans into it. 

He has to take her by the shoulders. “Ok ok ok, for real this time.” Garrett gently pushes her away. “I’m going to the couch.”

“ _ Your jus gonna come back _ .” Nott whines in goblin, he smiles at her fondly. 

“Not tonight.” She goes to protest, but he cuts her off. “Good night Nott.” He kisses her forehead. 

“Good night Garrett.” Nott says a bit bitter, but doesn’t hold it against him. 

Garrett gives a small smile before closing the door behind him, once he’s out of the room he leans against the door completely flushed and a bit turned on. He takes a few deep breaths before he goes into the living room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> I meant for this to be a quick thing and it was not  
> So now I have to do it in multiple chapters  
> More to come please enjoy  
> Feed back always appreciated!  
> Thanks for reading!


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